, Maine—The UMBC women's basketball team (8-8, 0-5 A. East) dropped its fifth straight game and remained winless in the America East Conference as host Maine (6-10, 2-3) defeated the Retrievers, 73-56, at Alfond Arena.

UMBC is winless in five games vs. the Black Bears.

The Retrievers got out to an 8-0 lead on three-pointers by Sharri Rohde and Heather Luttrell and a field goal by Amanda Robinson. But Maine quickly scored the next eight points of the game and would forge a 24-17 lead with 6:26 to play in the half. UMBC would shave the deficit to 24-22 on a Brittnie Hughes layup and a three-point field goal by Kristin Drabyn, but a 14-4 run by the hosts gave them a 38-26 advantage late in the first half.

The Retrievers were never able to trim the deficit to single digits in the second half.

Hughes led UMBC with 13 points, but hit only six of 15 shots from the floor. She added seven rebounds and six assists. Rohde added 11 points and Robinson contributed 10. Matea Pender led UMBC with eight rebounds, but managed only one field goal on the afternoon.

Maine's Bracey Barker led all scorers with 16 points.

UMBC hit only 37.7 percent (23/61) from the floor and made only five trips (5/5) to the free throw line. Maine hit 25 of 56 shots (44.6%), but hit seven of 12 from behind the arc and 16 of 22 from the charity stripe.

The Retrievers return to the RAC Arena to take on Albany in Mid-Day Madness on Thursday, January 26 at noon. They will play seven of the next ten games at home.