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BALTIMORE – UMBC women's basketball's senior guard Capree Garner (Silver Spring, Md./Springbrook) led three Retriever double-digit scorers as UMBC closed out its three-game home stand with its third straight victory, defeating Bucknell, 65-52, in non-conference action at the RAC Arena on Tuesday evening.

UMBC had a big first half, shooting 51.7 percent from the field and tallying 19 points off of Bucknell's 12 turnovers. The Retrievers used a 21-2 run in the second quarter to open up a 23-point advantage and took a 40-21 lead into the break, a deficit that the Bison were unable to overcome. 

Garner finished with a season-best 17 points, while junior forward Pandora Wilson (Gaithersburg, Md./Academy of Holy Cross) added 14 points and four rebounds and sophomore guard Laura Castaldo (West Nyack, N.Y./Clarkstown South) chipped in 12 points. Junior guard Taylor McCarley (Bowie, Md./Academy of Holy Cross) sprinkled the stat sheet with nine points, nine assists, eight rebounds and five steals.

The Retrievers pick up their third straight victory, including their fifth win in the last six games to improve to 5-3 on the season, while Bucknell falls for the third time in its last four games to drop to 5-4 overall.

Castaldo finished where she left off during her hot fourth-quarter on Sunday afternoon against La Salle, knocking down the first five of the Retrievers' points. After scoring their first six points of the game from inside the paint, the Bison went scoreless for the final 6:09 of the first quarter. McCarley drained a pair of free throws with 3:41 to go in the opening quarter to give UMBC its first lead of the day at 9-7, a lead the Retrievers would not relinquish. UMBC added to the advantage during Bucknell's scoring drought, forcing seven turnovers and converting them into eight points en route to mounting a 10-point cushion after 10 minutes of play, 17-7.

After missing its first five three-point attempts, Bucknell knocked down its first two chances in the second quarter to trim its deficit to six, 19-13, 2:29 into the period. Castaldo and Garner combined for the first eight points of the 21-2 run that put the Retrievers out in front, 38-15, with 2:13 to go before the break. 

UMBC shot a season-best 51.7 percent in the first two quarters, including 5-of-10 shots from long range. Castaldo and Garner combined to knock down 9-of-14 shots in the first half for 22 points.

Bucknell used a 13-4 run in the third quarter behind six points from Megan McGurk to pull within 13, 47-34, with under four minutes remaining in the period. McGurk finished the contest with a career-best 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting from long range. The Retrievers' shooting cooled down as UMBC hit 29.4 percent of its shots in the stanza, compared to 55.6 percent from the Bison, to help Bucknell pull with 12 points at the end of the third, 51-39.

The Bison would pull as close as 11 less than a minute into the fourth, but the Retrievers would not allow them to come any closer.

Bucknell junior forward Claire DeBoer added in eight points, a game-best 12 rebounds and four assists in the loss.

Game Notes

-In five of the last six games, UMBC has forced its opponents into 20-or-more turnovers. Bucknell turned the ball over 22 times, leading to 29 UMBC points.
-Laura Castaldo started the season 1-for-12 from long range, but has since gone 10-for-22 from three-point land.
-UMBC outscored its opponents by 15 points per game over its three-game home stand. Last season, UMBC had lost by an average of 24.3 points per game to the same three opponents.

On the Horizon for the Retrievers

-UMBC hits the road for the remainder of 2015, starting with a matchup at local-rival Morgan State on Saturday, Dec. 12.