BALTIMORE -- The UMBC Women's Basketball begins the 2021-22 season on Tuesday when it welcomes Gettysburg to Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena for a 7 p.m. tip-off. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and available internationally on AmericaEast.TV.

The Retrievers are returning are a pair of former America East All-Conference Third Team members and last season's top two scorers, Janee'a Summers (Bound Brook, N.J.) and Onome-Juliet Esadah (Warri, Delta State, Nigeria). All-Rookie Team honoree Alexia Nelson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and grad student Jasmine Braswell (Ashburn, Va.) also return to the Hilltop.  Summers averaged 12.3 points per game, while Esadah averaged 13 points per game.  Esadah also averaged a team-high 9.8 rebounds per game at 9.8, and Nelson was the team leader in assists and steals during the 2020-2021 season. 

The Retrievers bring in seven new players, including five transfers. Joining UMBC as graduate student transfers are Danae Marquez (Fresno, Calif.) and Jatarrikah Settle (Frederick, Md.). 

Transfers Keelah Dixon (Boston, Mass.), Loan-Anh Johnson (Wichita, Ks.) and Haile McDonald (Winchester, Va.) all join the black and gold with multiple years of eligibility remaining. UMBC has a pair of freshmen guards from New York on the roster, with Laycee Drake (Hancock, N.Y.) and Antonia May (Amsterdam, N.Y.) joining the program.

A GLANCE AT GETTYSBURG/ALL-TIME SERIES
·         The Bullets did not compete in the 2020-21 season
·         Gettysburg produced a brilliant campaign in 2019-20. They posted a record of 22-6, including a mark of 17-3 in the Centennial Conference.  The WBCA ranked GC as high as No. 16 nationally and the team earned a bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
·         Seven players from that team return for the 2021-22 season. Senior guard Carly Rice averaged 8.2 points per game two seasons ago and led the squad with 49 treys. Senior guard Christina Richson (5.1 ppg) started 23 of 28 games and knocked down 30 from behind the arc.
·         UMBC has faced Gettysburg in four of the past five seasons and triumphed in all four games in Baltimore. The two schools had split the prior four meetings when the Retrievers competed at the NCAA Division II level. Gettysburg's last win in the series occurred in February of 1983.
·         The two squads last met on Nov. 5, 2019 – Johnetta Hayes' first contest as the Retriever bench boss. UMBC triumphed, 92-50, shooting over 57 percent from the floor. Summers, who scored five points in the game, is the lone current Retriever to have seen action in the game.
·         A year earlier, UMBC led only 25-23, at the half before building a double digit lead with seconds to play in the third quarter in a 65-51 triumph.