BALTIMORE - The 2019-20 women's basketball regular-season came to a close at the UMBC Event as the UMBC Retrievers fell to the Maine Black Bears, 66-54, on Saturday afternoon. The Black Bears, who will be the number two seed in the upcoming playoffs, continue their eight-game winning streak to move to 16-14 overall 12-4 in America East play. The Retrievers finished the regular-season at 10-17 overall and 6-10 in conference contests.

Prior to the game, the team honored its four graduating seniors: Dominika Skrocka, Tyler Moore, Lucrezia Costa, and Te'yJah Oliver.

Freshman Lyric Swann (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach) led the day with 14 points on 7-13 shooting from the floor. Junior Janee'a Summers (Bound Brook, N.J) chipped in 12 points to go along with her six rebounds, while sophomore Paula Rubio (Madrid, Spain) and senior Te'yJah Oliver (Clinton, Md./Riverdale Baptist) put up 11 and 10 points, respectively.

 Following the game, it was announced that the Retrievers will be the #6 seed in the upcoming Hercules Tires America East Women's Basketball Playoffs, facing off against #3 UMass Lowell on Wednesday, March 4. This is the highest seeding for the Retrievers since the 2017 season.

Maine opened up an early 8-3 lead in the first quarter before Rubio and junior Jen Gast (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) hit jumpers to cut it to 8-7 with 5:12 to play. The Black Bears went up 10-7 before the Retrievers ended the first quarter on a 10-0 run, punctuated by four points from Summers to give UMBC a 17-10 lead heading into the second quarter.

The Black Bears quickly cut the Retriever lead down to 17-16 with 7:09 on the clock. After Summers made a free throw to make it a two-point game, Maine took a 20-18 lead with 5:07 to play. The Retrievers tied it up off a basket from Summers, but the Black Bears went on their own 8-0 run to take a 29-20 lead with 1:54 to go. UMBC would get five points on the board before the end of the quarter, four of which came from Swann but Maine would take the 32-25 lead into halftime. The Black Bears outscored the Retrievers, 22-8, in the quarter and held them to 27.3 percent shooting (3-11). 

In the third quarter, the Retrievers quickly worked to cut into the Black Bears lead, 37-33, off a jumper from Rubio before Swann hit a jumper in the paint off an Oliver steal to cut it two, 37-35, with 7:24 to play. Maine extended its lead to 39-35 before UMBC took a 40-39 advantage with 5:49 to play. The Black Bears regained the lead 36 seconds later before Oliver put a layup in to cut it down to one, 43-42, with 4:51 on the clock. The teams exchanged baskets in the quarter before Maine took a 50-46 lead at the end of the third.

In the final quarter, Maine shot 53.3 percent from the floor (8-15), while holding UMBC to 25 percent shooting (3-12). The Retrievers were able to cut the Black Bears' deficit down to as close as six at the 5:26 mark after Summers made a layup under the basket.

Despite shooting under 30 percent in two quarters, the Retrievers finished the day shooting 41.4 percent from the floor (24-58). The Retrievers also slightly outrebounded the Black Bears, 33-30.

In addition to her 10 points on the day, Oliver added three steals, two assists, and one block to her stat line. Swann dished out a team-high three assists, while senior Lucrezia Costa (Rome, Italy) had a team-high seven rebounds.

Information about the upcoming #AEHoops Championships can be found on the conference's Championship Central.