, Md. - UMBC women's basketball (11-8, 3-5 America East) won their third straight game with a 63-37 victory over Binghamton (12-7, 5-3 AE) in America East women's basketball action on Wednesday night at UMBC RAC Arena. The Retrievers went on a 32-3 run stretching from midway in the first half to the opening minutes of the second half as they improve to 6-1 at home this season.
UMBC opened the game 1-for-8 from the field as Binghamton would take a 10-3 advantage with 13:31 to play behind a trey from Laura Sario. Sario, who finished with a Bearcat team-high 14 points, connected on her third consecutive basket and had eight of the Bearcats first 10 points.
UMBC would turn the tides as Matea Pender (Sibinek, Croatia/The Croatian National Team) off the dribble pulled up just to the right of the free throw line to knock a jumper, sparking a 12-0 run that would give the Retrievers the lead for good and produce a five-point advantage at 15-10 with 7:34 to play.
Rebecka Lindgren responded with a three-point basket for Binghamton at the 6:35 mark but that would be the only points the rest of the first half for the Bearcats as UMBC would tack on 15 more points and stretch its run to 27-3 for a 30-13 halftime advantage.
Brittnie Hughes (Roanoke, Va./Northside) opened the Retrievers second half with a steal, taking it the distance of the court for a lay-up while being fouled by Binghamton's Jen Haubrich. Hughes converted the free throw and Amanda Robinson (Lusby, Md./Patuxent) converted a jumper two possessions later as the Retrievers extended their run to 20-0 and 32-3.
The Bearcats, who entered the game leading the America East in field goal percentage and points per game as a team, would get hot from outside the arc, closing the lead to 14 on two occasions but would get no closer as the Retrievers would go on an 11-1 run and take their largest advantage of 29 points with 1:20 to play.
Binghamton committed 21 turnovers in the game as the Retrievers capitalized, outscoring the Bearcats 34-8 in points off turnovers. Despite leading the league in field goal percentage and points per game, the Bearcats finished with a season low 37 points and 29.2 percent shooting from the field.
UMBC was led by Robinson's 16 points and eight rebounds. Robinson added four blocks, three assists and two steals as well. Hughes finished with 14 points, five assists and no turnovers. UMBC committed just six turnovers in the game and shot 41.9 percent from the field at 26-for-62. Heather Luttrell (Kokomo, Ind./Northwestern) played 23 solid minutes off the bench, scoring eight points with a season high seven rebounds. She was 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 outside the arc.
UMBC returns to action at home on Saturday, February 4 against New Hampshire at 7 p.m. in RAC Arena.
