STONY BROOK, N.Y. - The UMBC women's basketball team opened the 2020 America East season on Thursday, January 2 in a hard-fought 57-45 loss to the Stony Brook Seawolves from Island Federal Arena. The Seawolves move to 13-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play while UMBC falls to 4-8 on the year and 0-1 in America East contests.

The first quarter of play saw junior Janee'a Summers (Bound Brook, N.J.) score the first three points of the game as UMBC took an early 3-0 lead before Stony Brook hit a jumper.Senior  Lucrezia Costa (Rome, Italy) put up a jumper to put the Retrievers ahead, 5-3, before the Seawolves went on an 8-0 run and retook the lead, 10-5, with 3:50 to play. Senior Te'yJah Oliver (Clinton, Md./Riverdale Baptist) scored the last six points of the first quarter for UMBC and helped to cut Stony Brook's lead to 16-11 at the end of the first period.

The Retrievers held the Seawolves to 10 percent from the field in the second quarter (1-10) and used a 14-0 run to take a 30-19 lead at the half. Oliver hit a three-pointer to start the period before redshirt-sophomore O'lesheya Braxton (Paterson, N.J.) tied the game at 16-all at the 8:17 mark. The Seawolves took a brief 19-16 lead before the Retrievers took over. Junior Jen Gast (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) kickstarted the run before Summer put UMBC up, 20-10, with 5:49 to play in the first half. Costa, Oliver, and freshman Lyric Swann (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach) all scored during the run to help the Retrievers go into the locker room with the lead.

The third quarter was the opposite as Stony Brook held UMBC to just three baskets in ten minutes. The Seawolves scored the first basket before Summers added to the Retriever lead, 32-21, with 9:06 to play. Stony Brook then took control, using a 17-0 run to take a 38-32 lead before Costa cut the scoring drought for UMBC at the 1:54 mark. The Seawolves scored four more points before Oliver hit the final basket of the period to cut the deficit down to six, 42-36.

After Stony Brook hit a jumper in the fourth quarter, Summers and Costa scored four points to help slice the lead down to 44-40 with 7:04 to play. From there, Stony Brook finished the game on a 13-5 run to to the 57-45 victory.

Oliver led the way with 15 points and seven rebounds; the guard also added four steals and two assists, which now puts her at 200 for her career and one away from breaking into the top 15 in program history. Summers was the only other Retriever to break double-digits, putting up 14 to go along with four rebounds.

The Retrievers will continue America East play on the road on Sunday, January 5 when they travel to UMass Lowell to take on the River Hawks. The opening tip is scheduled for 12 p.m.