—The UMBC women's basketball team (2-4) snapped its three-game losing streak in triumphant fashion, routing in-state rival Mount St. Mary's (1-3) by a score of 68-40. The 40 points is the fewest the Retrievers have allowed in a game since Feb. 1, 2006, a 63-37 victory over Binghamton, while UMBC's 68 points are a season high.
The Retrievers hit a season-high 10 three-pointers, with four by sophomore guard Carlee Cassidy and three by senior guard Kristin Drabyn. The 10 trifectas are the most since UMBC drained the same number at George Washington on Nov. 10, 2006.
UMBC scored the first eight points of the game and had a 14-2 lead at the 14:42 mark. Cassidy scored 11 of the Retrievers' first 14 points, but UMBC did not score again until freshman center Jenny Lidgren's layup with 9:05 to play, which sparked a 17-0 run, giving the Retrievers a 31-7 advantage with 1:36 left in the first half. Drabyn scored 10 points during that stretch.
After not scoring for more than 12 minutes while UMBC took a commanding lead, the Mountaineers' offense finally came to life in the final 49 seconds of the period, as they scored the last 11 points of the half to cut UMBC's lead to 31-18 at intermission. The Mount made just three of its first 24 field goal attempts by were 4-for-4 from the floor during the final minute.
The Retrievers shot 34.4 percent (11-for-32) in the first half and went 7-for-20 (35.0 percent) from 3-point range, while the Mountaineers shot just 25.0 percent (7-for-28) from the floor and 20 percent (3-for-15) from long distance. UMBC capitalized on 12 Mount miscues, scoring 18 points off turnovers in the period.
Cassidy led all scorers with 11 points at the break, while Drabyn had 10. Tiffany Green led Mount St. Mary's with six points in the first half.
Junior center MacKenzie Butler scored eight of the Retrievers' first 11 points to start the second half after not tallying a bucket in the opening period.
The Mount's shooting woes continued in the second stanza, as they made just four of 27 field goals (14.8 percent) in the entire period, with three coming from 3-point range. Half of the Moutaineers' scoring in the second half came from the free throw line, where they were 11-for-14 in the period and 12-for-15 in the game.
Meanwhile, the Retrievers' shooting heated up in the second half, as they went 15-for-30 (50 percent) from the floor.
Hassanah Oliver drilled a 3-pointer at the 16:53 mark to cut UMBC's lead to 14 points, 38-24, the closest the score would get for the remainder of the game. The Retrievers then used an 18-2 run to take a game-high 30-point lead at 56-26 with 5:48 left. Lauren Howell's jumper at the 5:32 mark was the Mount's first field goal since Oliver's trifecta 11 minutes earlier.
The Retrievers shot 41.9 percent (26-for-62) from the floor in the game while holding Mount St. Mary's to just 20 percent (11-for-55) in the game. Cassidy led all scorers with 16 points and added a career-high four assists and three steals, while Drabyn, who came off the bench for the first time since March 10, 2006, finished with a season-high 15 and was named the Marlow Sports America East Player of the Game.
Butler posted eight points, six rebounds and a season-high three blocks, while Lidgren picked up a career-high eight points and five rebounds.
Freshmen Chrissy Robinson and Meghan Colabella tallied the first points of their career with three apiece. Colabella added a career-high six rebounds in 18 minutes of play.
Howell led the Mount with 10 points, while Leah Westbrooks posted a game-high 10 rebounds.
The Retrievers return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 28, when they head to Newark, N.J., to take on New Jersey Tech at 7 p.m.
