BALTIMORE – UMBC graduate student guard Keelah Dixon led four Retrievers in double figures with 19 points, as the Retrievers opened America East Conference play with a 73-69 victory over Binghamton at "The Peake."
The Retrievers (4-8, 1-0 AE) won their America East opener for the first time since the 2015-16 season. Binghamton fell to 7-7, 0-1.
Playing her 100th collegiate game, Dixon hit 7-of-10 shots from the floor and all three shots from behind the arc.
Classmates KK White and Scoop Smith added 16 and 11 points respectively and both contributed a team-best seven rebounds. Graduate student forward Kiara Bell, also playing in her 100th game, added 10 points, while sophomore guard Laycee Drake stuffed the stat sheet with six points, a career high seven assists, five rebounds and four steals.
The key sequence of the contest occurred early in the fourth quarter when the Retrievers went on an 11-0 run. Dixon and White hit back-to-back treys on assists from Drake to open the run. Drake then swiped the ball on back-to-back plays, resulting in her own driving layup and a dish to Smith for a bucket and free throw. That gave the hosts a 65-56 lead with 6:31 remaining.
The Bearcats would rally from ten down, at 69-59, with 2:50 remaining and had a chance to tie the score at 72-all in the final seconds. But a Jadyn Weltz' trey came up short with nine seconds left and White snagged the rebound and hit a free throw with five seconds left to finalize the scoring.
UMBC snapped a three-game slide and four-game home losing streak to the Bearcats.
Binghamton's Denai Bowman tied Dixon for game-high scoring honors with 19 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER – UMBC never trailed, as Dixon scored eight early points as part of a 14-9 Retriever lead. But the Bearcats ended the period on a 9-4 surge and knotted the game at 18 after 10 minutes.
SECOND QUARTER – Binghamton extended their run to 16-6 and took a 25-20 lead before a Dixon trey and Laycee Drake steal and layup knotted the score at 29-all with 6:47 to play. The Retrievers ended the half on a 13-3 surge and took a 38-32 lead into intermission.
The 38 points in a half tied UMBC's season high, set just a week ago at Hartford.
THIRD QUARTER – The Bearcats quickly erased the deficit by burying back-to-back treys in the first 1:21 of the period. They grabbed a 43-40 lead before a 6-0 run by the hosts reversed the score to 46-43 at the midpoint of the period. But the seesaw period concluded with a 9-4 surge by the visitors and they took a 52-50 lead after 30 minutes.
FOURTH QUARTER – Binghamton led, 56-54, but back-to-back treys by Dixon and White triggered an 11-0 Retriever run which put the hosts in the lead, 65-56 with 4:38 to play in the period.
NOTES
· UMBC hit 46.9 percent from the floor, knocking down 30-of-64 field goal attempts and held Binghamton to 42.6 percent shooting.
· Smith added three blocked shots to her all-around effort.
· Dixon scored in double figures for the first time since Nov. 17, when she scored 13 versus Richmond.
The Retrievers travel to Vermont for a New Year's Day game in Burlington. Game time is 2:00 p.m. at Patrick Gym.
