—The UMBC women's basketball team (12-11, 4-6 AEC) dropped its fourth straight game, falling to America East rival Vermont (13-10, 7-3 AEC) by a score of 73-49 Wednesday evening at the RAC Arena.

Freshman guard Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) was one rebound shy of her first career double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds to lead the team in both categories and earn America East Player of the Game honors.

Junior guard Carlee Cassidy's (Syracuse, N.Y./Westhill) three-pointer with 9:10 remaining in the first half was the 169th of her career, breaking a tie with former teammate Kristin Drabyn to take sole possession of UMBC's all-time record.

That triple cut Vermont's lead to six points, 23-17, but the Catamounts scored 16 of the game's next 19 points to take a commanding 37-20 advantage with 4:47 left in the first period, and the visitors led, 39-24, at halftime.

Vermont scored the first basket of the second half to increase its advantage to 17, but the Retrievers tallied six straight points to cut their deficit at 41-30 with 18 minutes remaining.

With 14:48 left in an 11-point game, the Catamounts took control with a 10-0 run to go up 57-36.

Down by 21 with 9:24 to play, UMBC again scored six straight points to cut its deficit to 15 at 60-45 with 7:11 left, but Vermont scored nine in a row and 13 of the game's final 18 to put the Retrievers away for good.

Like Kurowski, freshman forward Erin Brown (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) came close to a double-double, finishing with 12 points and eight rebounds. Cassidy was the only other Retriever in double figures with 10 points.

Vermont guard Amy Rosenkrantz led five Catamounts in double figures with 14 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists en route to America East Player of the Game honors.

The Retrievers return to action on Sunday, Feb. 15, when they travel to America East rival Maine.