BALTIMORE - After a 10-point loss to host Florida International on Friday at the FIU Thanksgiving Classic, UMBC will take on Presbyterian in the Consolation Game at 11 a.m. on Sunday. 

Sunday's contest will be the first-ever meeting between the Retrievers and the Blue Hose. 

LAST TIME OUT

• Despite Kennedy Austin setting a career-high in points for the second consecutive game, UMBC dropped the opening contest of the FIU Thanksgiving Classic to the host Panthers on Friday morning. 
• Austin scored 24 points in just 21 minutes, upping her top scoring mark by four points and raising her per-game average to 13.1 in the loss. Austin shot 46.7 percent from the floor and went to the foul line 12 times. She also matched her top mark in rebounds, pulling down seven. 
• UMBC won the rebounding battle by 10 (43-33), but FIU shot the lights out in the second half, making 62 percent of its shots, and outscoring the Retrievers 57-45 in the final 20 minutes. 
• Presbyterian dropped its first game of the FIU Thanksgiving Classic on Friday afternoon (Nov. 28) to Seattle 72-61. The Blue Hose led 17-13 after the first quarter but were outscored 59-44 over the last three quarters to drop their third straight. PC got within four with just five minutes to play in the game but was ultimately unable to get closer.
•  Ja'Cia Cunningham scored a game-high and season-high 23 points on 10-19 shooting from the field to lead Presbyterian. She also led the team in rebounding, grabbing 7 boards in 24 minutes. 

SCOUTING THE BLUE HOSE

• After scoring a season-high 25 points against Seattle, Cunningham leads the Blue Hose offensively, averaging 12.9 points per game off the bench. She has scored in double figures for the Blue Hose four times so far this season. Aminata Tal is the second-leading scorer for PC going into Sunday, scoring 11.3 points per game. 
• Allie Sykes has been hot from three to start the year, shooting 41 percent to lead the team from beyond the arc. She is PC's third-leading scorer at 7.5 points per game and leads the team with 16 made three pointers. She has also been Presbyterian's best free throw shooter, making 8 of her 9 attempts this season.
• Morgan Boyd is the only player to start all eight games so far this season for the Blue Hose. She leads the team in rebounding, averaging 5.5 per game. Ore Ogunwolere leads the Blue Hose in assists and steals. She has 22 assists and 15 steals so far this season.
• Finally, Krystal Haddock leads the Blue Hose in minutes played per game and blocks, averaging 26.7 minutes per game to go along with four blocked shots.
• Tiffany Sardin is the head coach of Presbyterian. She is in her fourth season as a Division I head coach and her second at Presbyterian. She holds a record of 8-30 at Presbyterian.

SCOUTING THE DAWGS

• Austin, a freshman from Waldorf, Md., has had a tremendous start to her UMBC career, averaging 13.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in her first seven contests. Austin was recently inserted into the starting lineup, averaging 22.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per contest in her two starts. She scored a career-high 24 points in Friday's loss to FIU, getting the job done in just 21 minutes. 
• Fellow freshman Heidi Williams has yet to crack the starting lineup, but ranks third on the team in scoring at 9.6 per game and second in rebounding at 4.6 per game. She is also third on the team with 13 steals. Williams has reached double figures in four of her seven career games. 
• East Carolina transfer Jade Tillman is second on the team in scoring at 10.7 points per game and the team's leading rebounder at 5.9. Tillman has come off the bench in her last two contests, averaging 7.5 points and 11 rebounds in 24 minutes per game against Towson and FIU. She grabbed 12 rebounds against the Panthers, the most by a Retriever this season. 
• UMBC has been nearly automatic at the charity stripe to start the season, knocking down shots at a 77.0 percent clip. The Dawgs have two games this season in which they've been perfect from the line, including a 15-15 performance vs. Brown. They rank 42nd in the country and first in the America East.
• UMBC ranks 53rd in the country in bench points, getting 28.0 points per game from its reserves. 
• The Retrievers have done a strong job of making life difficult for opponents, forcing 21.57 turnovers per game and coming away with 11.0 steals per contest. UMBC ranks 58th and 70th in the country in the respective stats. 
• Getting to the free-throw line at will, Austin ranks 21st in Division I in free throws made with 37.
• Carmen Yánez is 10 assists shy of 200 for her UMBC career. 

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS

• FIU enters the tournament with a 1-3 record. The Panthers defeated Bethune-Cookman 81-68 with losses to USF (56-81), UCF (61-79), and Jacksonville (69-80). Friday will be FIU's first game against a program outside of Florida. 
• In their most recent contest, the Panthers fell on the road at Jacksonville thanks to a massive fourth quarter from the Dolphins. Jacksonville outscored FIU 27-11 in the final period to secure the 11-point win. Rhema Collins led the way for FIU with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Fantasia James (15), Denika Lightbourne (15), and Parris Atkins (13) all reached double figures. 
• The 1-3 Panthers have been outscored by just over 10 points per game so far this season. Opponents are knocking down 43.3 percent of their shots while winning the rebound battle by nearly eight per game. 
• Collins is averaging 16.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game with two double-doubles in three contests. She finished with 17 & 10 against Bethune-Cookman and 19 & 10 at Jacksonville. Preseason all-conference choice, Parris Atkins is averaging 15.3 points and more than three steals per game. She scored 20 points in the loss to UCF. A starter in all four games, Fantasia James is averaging 10.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per night. She had 15 & 5 at Jacksonville. 
• Jesyka Burks-Wiley is in her sixth year in charge of the FIU program. She holds a 77-82 record with her best season coming in 2023-24 as the Panthers went 21-12. The 21 wins were FIU's most in a season since 2011-12. Burks-Wiley also has stops as an assistant at South Florida, Brown, UMass-Lowell, and Nebraska-Omaha. Burks-Wiley is a 2009 graduate of Boston U. and is one of eight players in the program's history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. 

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK

• Heidi Williams became UMBC's first America East Weekly Award winner for the 2025-26 season after an impressive week for the Dawgs. Williams averaged 10.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game. Williams is the first Retriever to be named Rookie of the Week since Lyric Swann in January, 2020. In Thursday's historic victory over Virginia,  Williams scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds in 20 minutes. She also hit four free throws in the final six seconds of the game to ice away the victory for UMBC. Williams made seven of eight free throws in the game. She added six points, six rebounds, and three blocks on Sunday afternoon in a 56-54 loss to Brown. 
• For the season, Williams is averaging 12.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game in 22.5 minutes off the bench. 

HISTORY MADE

• Last Thursday's victory on the road at Virginia was a historic one for the Retrievers. UMBC never trailed, allowing Virginia to tie the contest once in the fourth before fighting off the Cavalier rally for a 61-56 victory. 
• The win on Thursday was the first Power 4 (ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12) victory in UMBC program history, snapping a streak of 38 straight losses against such programs. UMBC was previously 0-4 all-time against Virginia and 0-15 against the ACC. 
• The 64 percent UMBC shot from three in the win proved to be its best showing from distance since shooting 66.7 percent from deep at George Mason in December 2024. 
• Candice Hill's program shocked the Cavaliers from the jump, building an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes of the contest. The lead grew to 14 midway through the second quarter as Yánez drilled a three to make it 33-19 Retrievers. UMBC took an eight-point lead into the break and led by 12 at the 7:40 mark of the third as Williams connected from deep, but UVA was able to trim the deficit to one with 37 ticks left on the third quarter clock. Kennedy Austin found Scott open for three with 11 seconds remaining in the third to put the Retrievers up by four entering the final quarter of play. Virginia tied the game at 54 with 3:13 to play, but the Cavaliers never took the lead as the Retrievers held on to win on the road. Tiara Bellamy went baseline, converting a reverse layup with 28 seconds left to put UMBC up by three. Virginia once again pulled within one, but Williams made four free throws in the final six seconds to ice the game.

GETTING TO KNOW THE DAWGS

• Hill's program features five returners and eight newcomers in 2025-26. Carmen Yánez is the lone returning starter for UMBC, while fellow captain Tiara Bellamy is expected to fill a larger role. Also back are junior Alaina Williams, and sophomores Lauren Thompson and Kenya Ramsey. 
• UMBC's eight newcomers are split between four transfers and four freshmen. 
  • Incoming Transfers -> Dagny Slomack (Soph. | Central Connecticut State), Delaney Yarborough (Sr. | North Carolina A&T), Gabby Scott (Jr. | Towson), Jade Tillman (Jr. | East Carolina)
  • Freshmen -> Heidi Williams (Saint Frances Academy), Kennedy Austin (Maret), Sadaya Jones (Morgantown), Maisie Crowley (Bishop McNamara)
• The 2025-26 Retrievers represent three countries and six states.
  • Maryland (5) -> Austin, Scott, Tillman, H. Williams, Yarborough
  • New Jersey (2) -> Bellamy, Slomack
  • Connecticut (1) -> Thompson
  • Florida (1) -> A. Williams
  • Virginia (1) -> Ramsey
  • West Virginia (1) -> Jones
  • Spain (1) -> Yánez
  • England (1) -> Crowley
• Yánez, Bellamy, and Yarborough will captain the program in 2025-26. Yánez started 28 games last season and handed out five or more assists in seven different games. Bellamy averaged just under four points per game off the bench in year one as a Retriever after transferring from Saint Peter's. Yarborough, the veteran transfer from NC A&T, posted five games with at least five rebounds and put forth her best performance of the season (9 pts, 6 reb) against her former school, Stony Brook. 

2024-25 IN REWIND

• The 2024-25 Retrievers posted a record of 14-15 in year one under Candice Hill, matching the 2022-23 record for the most wins since 2016-17 for UMBC women's hoops. 
• UMBC reached the America East Conference Tournament as the #7 seed before falling to #2 Vermont, 70-39. The Retrievers held a two-point lead after the opening 10 minutes before the Catamounts pulled away.
• The name of the game for the Retrievers in 2024-25 was defense as UMBC ranked in the top-65 in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 59.1 points per game. The Retrievers defended the three-point line extremely well, finishing the season 37th in Division I and second in the America East as teams shot just 28.1 percent from deep. 
• UMBC was also stellar at the charity stripe last season, knocking down its free throws at a 74.7 percent clip, ranking in the top-80 in Division I and recording the third-best mark in program history. 
• Under Hill's guidance, the Retrievers improved offensively from behind the three-point line (29.5% -> 30.4 %) and the free-throw line (67.8% -> 74.7%). The Retrievers also handed out 10.4 assists per game compared to 9.9 the season prior and turned the ball over 1.3 fewer times per game in 2024-25.

AMERICA EAST PRESEASON POLL
1. Vermont 63 (7)
2. Maine 55 (2)
3. Bryant 46
4. UAlbany 42
5. NJIT 37
6. Binghamton 26
7. New Hampshire 24
8. UMBC 23
9. UMass Lowell 8

WHAT'S NEXT

• UMBC will return to Maryland for the first of four December contests against a local foe. The Retrievers will travel to Morgan State on Saturday, December 6 at 2 p.m.