Coach Hayes Postgame

ALBANY, N.Y. - The UMBC women's basketball team (2-5, 2-3 America East) was supposed to cap off the 2020-21 season in Burlington, Vt. against the Vermont Catamounts on Feb. 27-28. Instead, the Retrievers and the Catamounts (3-2, 3-2 AE) kicked off 2021 in Albany after CoVID canceled their original weekend contests, with Vermont defeating UMBC, 73-56, in game one of the series.

Graduate student Juliet Esadah (Henrico, Va.) led the Retrievers with her fifth-straight game scoring in double-digits (15 pts, 6-15 FG) and a game-high 13 rebounds, nine of which were offensive. Freshman Alexia Nelson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) joined Esadah in the double-digit club, scoring 10 points on the day. 

The game started slow, with Vermont making a three-pointer a minute into the first period and UMBC taking a 4-3 lead thanks to Esadah and junior Janee'a Summers (Bound Brook, N.Y.) about two and half minutes later. After the Catamounts took a 9-5 lead with 5:28 to play, the Retrievers were able to get as close as four points as Summers hit a pair of free throws to make the score 11-7 before Vermont began to grow their lead, eventually ending the quarter with a 23-12 lead.

Esadah scored the first two baskets of the second quarter for the Retrievers, cutting the Catamount lead to 25-16 at the 5:07 mark. Vermont hit a pair of free throws to extend their lead back to double-digits before Nelson hit a driving layup in the paint. Vermont pulled away late in the quarter, growing their lead to 17 points before Esadah and Nelson scored four-straight to stop a seven-point run and cut the lead to 36-23. Vermont hit a final basket to take a 38-23 lead into halftime.

Vermont jumped out to an 18-point lead, 45-27, early in the third quarter but free throws from Summers, a three-point basket from freshman Patricia Anumgba (Silver Spring, Md./Paint Branch), and a layup from Esadah helped to cut it down to 47-34 with 4:16 on the clock. Lyric Swann (Elkridge, Md./Long Reach) scored five consecutive points to go with a layup from junior Mya Moye (Washington, D.C.) at the end of the period with Vermont lead, 56-42.

In the final ten minutes of the game, the Retrievers were able to cut the Catamount lead to 15 on two occasions, both initiated by steals. Kasey Gagan (Warwick, R.I.) picked off a Vermont player and was able to feed it to Esadah in the paint to make the score 63-48 at the 6:12 mark; later in the game, Gagan was on the receiving end of the basket as senior Jen Gast (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) corralled a lost ball and found Gagan in the paint with 56 seconds on the clock.

The Retrievers outrebounded the Catamounts, 37-29, and scored 20 second-chance points compared to Vermont's two. However, Vermont outshot UMBC, 51.7 percent to 22.2 percent, and dished out 25 assists to the Retrievers' eight. 

Vermont's Josie Larkin led all scorers with 21 points after shooting 83.3 percent from behind the arc (7-10 FG, 5-6 3FG). Two-time America East Rookie of the Week Anna Olson had 19 points as she went 9-11 from the floor.

The Retrievers will return to the court tomorrow, January 4 for the series finale against the Catamounts. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.