EASTON, Pa. - The UMBC women's basketball team closed out the decade with a 65-58 victory over the Lafayette Leopards on Sunday afternoon from the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, Pa. The Retrievers move to 4-7 while the Leopards fall to 4-6. 

Two weeks after scoring a career-high 31 points against Morgan State, senior guard Te'yJah Oliver (Clinton, Md./Riverdale Baptist) collected her 1000th career point. She finished the day with 30 points, one shy of her career high, on 10-16 shooting with three three-point field goals and going 7-9 from the charity stripe; she also collected four rebounds, four assists, and one steal. 

The Retrievers held a 49-47 lead heading into the final quarter of the play, which they quickly expanded on with a layup from Oliver to take a 51-47 lead early; however, the Leopards cut the lead to just one with a quick three. Lafayette took a 54-52 with 6:22 to play in the fourth quarter, their first lead since the 9:09 mark of the third period, but senior Lucrezia Costa (Rome, Italy) quickly tied the game up at 54-all. Junior Janee'a Summers (Bound Brook, N.J.) would give UMBC the lead for good when she put up a jumper and hit two free throws to put the Retrievers up 58-54 with 3:45 to play.
Redshirt-sophomore O'lesheya Braxton (Paterson, N.J.) knocked down a free throw to give UMBC a five-point advantage, but Lafayette hit a layup to cut the lead to three. Summers was fouled and converted both free throws to push the lead back to five, 61-56, before the Leopards hit another jumper to cut it back to three again, 61-58 with 33 seconds to play. The game ended with Summers and Oliver hitting a pair of free throws to seal the win, 65-58.

The Retrievers as a team shot 40.7 percent from the field (20-54) and went 18-27 from the free throw line. UMBC also turned the ball over a season-low nine times in the win; in the previous ten games, the Retrievers averaged 20.9 miscues. 

Coming out of halftime with Lafayette leading 34-32, Oliver hit a jumper to tie the game up thirty seconds into the third period. From there, the lead changed five times until sophomore Eryn Fisher (Perth, Australia) hit a layup to give the Retrievers a 47-45 lead with 1:16 remaining. Oliver would put up another layup to give UMBC a 49-45 lead as Lafayette hit two free throws to head into the final period with a 49-47 score. During the span of lead changes, Oliver had a layup to give UMBC a 45-43 lead for her 24th point of the game, which marked the 1000th point of her career.

The Leopards took an early 6-2 lead in the first quarter before Summers hit a jumper to put the Retrievers within two. Lafayette hit another layup to go up, 8-4, because Oliver knocked down her first three of the day to shorten the lead to just one. The Leopards extended their lead to as much as four, 14-10, before the Retrievers rattled off five points from Oliver and Summers to take a 15-14 lead with a little over a minute to go. Lafayette scored the final five points, including a last-second three pointer to take a 19-15 advantage into the second quarter.

Fisher cut into the deficit just nine seconds into the second period but the Leopards scored on three straight possessions to take a 24-17 lead. Summers broke up the scoring to bring the score to 24-19 before Lafayette scored another basket. Summers and Costa helped close the gap to four, 27-23, before Oliver hit a jumper and two free throws to tie the game up at 27-all. Lafayette pulled ahead, 30-27, with 3:28 to play but Oliver netted a three-pointer and Summers hit another layup to give UMBC its first lead of the game, 32-30, with under two minutes to go before halftime. The Leopards scored four points at the end of the half and took a 34-32 advantage into the break.

In addition to Oliver, Summers was the only other Retriever with double-digits as she picked up 21 points (6-14, 9-12 FT) with seven rebounds. Braxton also collected seven rebounds on the day.

The Retrievers will begin America East play on Thursday, January 2 as they travel to Long Island to face the Stony Brook Seawolves.