BALTIMORE - In the season opener against Morgan State, the UMBC women's basketball team fell in a tough matchup against the Lady Bears, 67-58, on Wednesday afternoon. Morgan State moves to 1-0 on the young season, while UMBC falls to 0-1.

In a sea of new faces for the Retrievers, seven made their debut in the Black and Gold on Wednesday. Graduate student Juliet Esadah (Henrico, Va.) led the team with a double-double, scoring 16 points (5-11 FG, 6-8 FT) and pulling down 12 rebounds, including seven defensive. Freshmen Alexia Nelson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and Patricia Anumgba (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch) shined in their debuts, scoring six and eight points, respectively; Nelson also dished out a team-high five assists on the day.

Veteran Janee'a Summers (Bound Brook, N.J.) led the Retrievers with 17 points, going 7-15 from the field with seven rebounds.

The first quarter started out in favor of the Retrievers with Nelson being fouled just four seconds into the game and converting her first pair of collegiate free throws. Kasey Gagan (Warwick, R.I.) helped to put UMBC up, 6-2, with 8:06 on the clock before Morgan State scored six straight to take an 8-6 lead. Graduate student Jasmine Braswell (Ashburn, Va.) and Summers gave UMBC the 10-8 lead with 4:29 to play before the teams began to trade baskets, ending with the Lady Bears taking a 16-14 lead into the second quarter.

Summers started the second quarter by answering a Morgan State three with one her own, closing the scoring gap to 19-17. The Lady Bears used another six-point run to take a 25-17 lead with 7:57 to play before the Retrievers used their own mini-run, sparked by Esadah, to cut the gap to 26-23 at the 6:06 mark. Morgan State held onto a 32-23 lead at the 2:54 mark before UMBC went on a seven-point stretch to close Morgan State's gap to 32-30 at halftime.

The teams kept it close in the third quarter, with the Lady Bears' lead at only three, 36-33, at the 5:55 mark. Morgan State grew its lead to seven, 42-35, with 3:19 on the clock before UMBC began to whittle away with shots by Summers, Anumgba, and Nelson to get the score within three, 45-42, heading into the final 10 minutes.

Nelson and Esadah helped to keep the score with four before Morgan State extended the lead to 10, 56-46, at the 6:02 mark. UMBC chipped away with Anumgba scored five straight points to get UMBC within five, 56-51, with 4:45 on the clock. Down the line, the Retrievers were able to make their free throws but were unable to catch up to the lead that the Lady Bears had put together.

For Morgan State, Ja'Niah Henson led all scorers with 19 points, followed by Dahnye Redd (16 pts, 12 rebs) and Ashia McCalla (10 pts).

The Retrievers will take a week off before traveling to face Mount St. Mary's on Saturday. December 5 at 1 p.m.