BALTIMORE - In their first home game in over a month, the UMBC women's basketball team broke a six-game losing streak and earned a comeback victory over the Morgan State Lady Bears, 65-63, on Sunday afternoon.

Senior guard Te'yJah Oliver (Clinton, Md./Riverdale Baptist), who played in her 100th career game on Sunday,  led the Retrievers with a career-high 31 points, going 9-18 from the field and 11-12 from the charity stripe; this makes her the first UMBC women's basketball player to hit the 30-point threshold since Taylor McCarley put up 30 against UMass Lowell on February 14, 2016. 

The Retrievers trailed the Lady Bears, 44-39, heading into the fourth quarter before Morgan State extended the lead by nine early. O'lesheya Braxton (Paterson, N.J.) cut the game to seven, 48-41, before Morgan State converted a three-point play to open up a 10-point lead with six minutes to play. Lyric Swann (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach) hit a jumper to put the deficit back down to single-digits, 51-38, before Oliver converted two free throws and a Braxton jumper put the Retrievers back within reach, 51-47. 

Morgan State extended its lead out to seven, 55-48, with three minutes to go in the quarter before UMBC scored three points off free throws to bring the game back within four. However, Oliver scored the final four points of the quarter, including the tying bucket with six seconds left to send the game to overtime, tied at 55-all.

In overtime, the Retrievers jumped out to an early 59-57 lead before the Lady Bears tied things up and eventually took a 63-60 lead with 46 seconds remaining to play. Oliver converted two pairs of free throws to put UMBC up, 64-63, and Braxton grabbed a defensive rebound off a missed jumper which led to a Morgan State foul. Braxton hit one of her free throws to put the Retrievers up 65-63; the Retrievers held on to win as the Lady Bears missed their final three-point attempt as time ran out.

The first five minutes of the game played out as a back and forth between the two teams as the teams traded buckets for a 9-9 score before the media timeout. Out of the timeout, the Retrievers took an 11-9 lead before the Lady Bears hit a three-pointer and a layup to take a 14-11 advantage with a little less than three minutes to play. Braxton hit two buckets to help UMBC take a 15-14 advantage before Morgan State hit a layup at the end of the quarter to take a 16-15 lead into the second quarter.

Oliver started out the second quarter with two free throws for the Retrievers to give them a 17-16 lead before the Lady Bears jumped out to a 22-17 lead. Janee'a Summers (Bound Brook, N.J.) converted a pair of free throws before Sariah Penese (Wellington, New Zealand) put a layup to cut the lead to 22-21. Lucrezia Costa (Rome, Italy) hit a free throw to tie the game up at 22-all before the Lady Bears ended the period on a 5-1 run to take a 27-23 advantage into halftime.

In the third period, the Lady Bears opened a nine-point lead, 34-25, which the Retrievers were able to chip down to six, before Morgan State broke it open to a 12-point advantage, 44-32, late in the period. UMBC used a 7-0 Oliver run to close to gap to five, 44-39, as the teams headed into the final period of regulation. 

Oliver was just one of three Retrievers to hit double-digits on the say, as Summers and Braxton each chipped in 11 points. Jen Gast (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) notched her third game with double-digit rebounds, bringing down ten on the day. 

As a team, the Retrievers shot 44.4 percent from the field and 74.2 percent from the free throw line. Morgan State forced 28 UMBC turnovers and stole the ball 15 times on the day; the Lady Bears rank 20th in the nation in turnovers forced with 22.0 and 15th in steals with 12.8. Morgan State outscored UMBC in points off turnovers, 31-12 and in the paint, 34-22.

Chelsea Mitchell led the Lady Bears with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and six steals, while Ashia McCalla put up 20 points with four steals. 

The Retrievers will take time off for the holidays and pick up play on Sunday, December 29 as they face Lafayette in the non-conference finale. The opening tip from the Kirby Sports Center is scheduled for 2 p.m.