BALTIMORE – UMBC women's basketball travels to New Hampshire on Wednesday, Jan. 9, for the first of three-straight road games. The Retrievers will look to pickup their first road win of the season when they take on the Wildcats in America East action at 7 p.m. inside Lundholm Gym.
SCOUTING THE RETRIEVERS (5-10, 1-1 AE): UMBC picked up its first conference victory of the season in a 54-50 win against Maine on Saturday. UM came as close as two at 52-50 with four seconds left in the contest before a pair of free throws from senior guard Raven Harris sealed the victory. Sophomore guard Bria White scored 14 of her team-high 15 points in the second half to help the Retrievers hold off Black Bears. Senior center Kim Browningchipped in a career-high three blocks, seven points - tying a career-high - and pulled down a season-high eight boards.
White and senior guard Brittany Crowell have led the Retrievers in scoring in 10 of 15 games this season and have scored in double-digits a combined 13 times on the year. Crowell ranks in the top-10 in the league in scoring at 10.3 points per game and is adding a team-best 5.1 rebounds per game, while White is just behind at 10.2 points. Senior guard Raven Harris is doing a little bit of everything for UMBC this season, averaging 8.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.7 steals - ranking 11th in Division I - and 2.6 assists.
Head coach Phil Stern is in his 11th season at the helm of the Retrievers' program, after leading the black and gold to their second America East Championship game appearance last season. Following the graduation of 59.5 percent of the conference's highest scoring offense in 2011-12, UMBC (34 votes) was tabbed to finish sixth in the league behind Albany (61), Boston University (56), Hartford (54), New Hampshire (37) and Vermont (37).
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS (5-9, 0-2 AE): New Hampshire has dropped four straight, including back-to-back games to begin conference play. Senior guard Cari Reed notched her fourth double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds in Wednesday night's contest against Vermont, but the Catamounts outscored the Wildcats 12-6 over the final five minutes of regulation to force overtime and would go on to win, 63-60. New Hampshire returned home Saturday to take on Stony Brook, but suffered a similar result, falling 48-44 to Stony Brook after shooting 14.3% from the floor in the second half.
Reed is the only Wildcat averaging in double-digit points on the season, scoring 12.7 per contest, to go with a team-best 7.6 rebounds. Senior forward Morgan Frame is adding 9.9 points and 6.7 boards per game, while junior guard Kelsey Hogan is chipping in a team-best 3.2 assists, to go with 8.6 points.
INSIDE THE SERIES: UMBC won two of three against New Hampshire last season, including a 59-57 victory in the America East Conference Quarterfinals in West Hartford, Conn. on March 2. A pair of free throws from Michelle Kurowski with one second left of the clock sent the Retrievers to the semifinals. The Wildcats' victory over UMBC last season, 75-68, came on its home court, despite three Retrievers recording double-doubles.
ON THE HORIZON FOR THE RETRIEVERS: The Retrievers continue a three-game road trip at Vermont on Saturday (Jan. 12) and conclude the trip in Hartford (Jan. 16) before taking Saturday, Jan. 19th off. UMBC returns home on Jan. 23 for its annual Midday Madness contest. The event will air live on ESPN3, as the Retrievers take on Stony Brook at the RAC Arena at noon.
