BALTIMORE - The UMBC women's basketball team opened the second half of America East play on Saturday afternoon with a 66-49 loss to the league-leading Stony Brook Seawolves. 

The Seawolves remain unbeaten in conference at 9-0 and move to 21-1 on the year. The Retrievers fall to 6-14 overall and 2-7 in conference play.

Freshman Lyric Swann (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach) led the Retrievers with a career-high 17 points, shooting 53.3 percent from the field (8-15). Sophomore Paula Rubio (Madrid, Spain) followed with nine points, while senior Te'yJah Oliver (Clinton, Md./Riverdale Baptist) and junior Janee'a Summers (Bound Brook, N.J.) each chipped in seven.

The first quarter started out slow for both teams as Swann scored a three-point jumper after 1:30 had elapsed off the clock. The Retrievers quickly took a 5-0 lead after sophomore Eryn Fisher (Perth, Australia) put up a shot. Stony Brook cut back, 5-3, before Oliver hit a three from the logo to put UMBC up, 8-3, with 6:36 to play. The Seawolves trimmed the lead back down to two, 8-6, but the Retrievers went on a 6-2 run to extend the lead by six, 14-8, with 3:32 to play in the quarter. Stony Brook used a 7-0 run of its own to take a quick 15-14 lead before senior Lucrezia Costa (Rome, Italy) gave UMBC a 16-15 advantage at the end of the first quarter. 

Stony Brook took the lead to start the second quarter, 17-16, and never gave it up. The teams exchanged baskets through the beginning of the period, with Rubio helping to cut the deficit down to one one two occasions. After Jen Gast (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) trimmed the lead to 24-22 with 4:36 to go, Stony Brook went on an 11-0 run to end the quarter and took a 35-22 lead into halftime.

The Seawolves outshot the Retrievers in the first half, 53.8 percent (14-26) to 38.1 percent (8-21). In the second quarter, Stony Brook limited UMBC to two field goals (2-10) and just six points, five of them coming from Paula Rubio. 

The Retrievers made a dent in the Seawolves' lead out of the gate in the third quarter, with baskets from Costa and Swann. Five points from Stony Brook pushed their lead to 13, 39-26, but UMBC continued to battle through the quarter, cutting the deficit down to eight, 45-37, after a three-pointer from Summers with 21 seconds remaining. The Seawolves would get a basket right at the buzzer to take a 47-37 lead into the final quarter.

UMBC kept Stony Brook close in the beginning of the fourth quarter, holding the Seawolves' lead to 10, 49-39, with 9:03 to play. However, Stony Brook went on an 8-2 run to extend its lead all the way to 19, 62-43, with 5:24 to play. Rubio and Swann made the final baskets for the Retrievers in the period.

Overall on the day, the Retrievers shot 38.8 percent (19-49) from the field and 77.8 percent from the free throw line (7-9). Stony Brook outrebounded UMBC, 34-28, and had 19 assists compared to UMBC's 10. 

In addition to her career-high 17 points, Swann also had four assists, three rebounds and two steals on the day; Rubio also dished out four assists. Gast led the team with seven rebounds. 

India Pagan led the Seawolves with 16 points (8-14 FG) and seven rebounds.

The Retrievers will return to the road on Wednesday, Feb. 5 when they travel to take on the Hartford Hawks at 7 p.m.