BALTIMORE - Winners of back-to-back contests, UMBC looks to even its record at 5-5 as it welcomes Loyola (Md.) to Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena on Tuesday evening for an 8 p.m. tip.
Tuesday's matchup is the 45th all-time meeting in the local rivalry, dating back to 1973. The Greyhounds hold a 28-16 edge in the series with five straight victories. UMBC's last win against Loyola (Md.) came on Dec. 20, 2015. Last year's meeting took place inside Reitz Arena with Loyola bursting out of the gates to take an 18-3 lead after the first quarter. UMBC won the middle periods by 10, pulling within three in the fourth quarter before the Greyhounds finished the game on an 8-3 run to secure a 54-46 victory. A graduate of Loyola (Md.), head coach
Candice Hill (Walker) played 16 minutes and scored three points in her final meeting as a player against UMBC.
LAST TIME OUT
- UMBC women's basketball won its second consecutive game, defeating Morgan State 66-48 on the road on Saturday afternoon. The Retrievers have now won back-to-back games against the Lady Bears and improved to 17-13 in the all-time series.
- Kennedy Austin and Jade Tillman posted identical stat lines of 19 points and six rebounds to lead the charge for UMBC. Tillman added three steals and a block, while Austin added an assist and a steal.
- UMBC owned the boards, winning the rebounding battle 56-27 with 27 offensive rebounds in the contest. Seven different Retrievers pulled down at least five rebounds, led by Alaina Williams with eight. Maisie Crowley and Delaney Yarborough joined Tillman and Austin with six boards.
- The Retrievers led wire-to-wire, building a 15-4 advantage late in the first quarter before holding a 17-8 lead after the first period. A late Tillman three in the second would send UMBC to the locker room up by six in the midst of a mini-run from the Bears.
- In the third quarter, UMBC used a 16-2 run to break the game open. The Retrievers would lead by as many as 18 in the third before stretching their largest lead of the night to 20 with 4:12 to play in the fourth.
- Loyola (Md.) improved to 2-7 with a victory in its last outing, defeating the Towson Tigers 64-63 in overtime on Thursday, December 4. Lex Therien paced the Greyhounds with 26 ponts and 10 rebounds. Amandine Amorich finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Koi Sims pulled down 14 boards and chipped with eight points.
- Trailing by four with 2:10 to play after a Tilda Sjökvist layup, Therien made four free throws over the final 1:52, including the game-tying pair with 13 seconds left while Loyola held Towson scoreless to force overtime. Towson opened overtime with back-to-back threes from Sjökvist and Semaya Turner, but were outscored 10-3 over the final 3:49. Therien was clutch once again, tying the game with 2:09 to play before converting a pair of free throws with 1:40 left to give the Greyhounds the lead.
BACK-2-BACK
- Austin was named America East Rookie of the Week for the second consecutive week, making her the first Retriever since 2017 to secure the honor in back-to-back weeks. Austin is the eighth player in program history to earn AE Rookie of the Week honors in consecutive weeks.
- Austin needed just one game to get the job done this week, putting forth a stellar effort in a 66-48 win for the Retrievers at Morgan State on Saturday afternoon. In the starting lineup for the fourth straight game, Austin scored 19 points, grabbed six rebounds, added a steal, and handed out an assist in 25 minutes of action. The Waldorf, Md. native shot 6-13 from the floor, knocked down all seven of her free throws, and pulled down five offensive rebounds in the win. The freshman scored 14 of her 19 points in the first half as UMBC entered halftime with a six-point advantage.
- After going five years without an America East Rookie of the Week, UMBC has had two players earn the honor a total of three times thus far in 2025.
- 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.
SCOUTING THE HOUNDS
- After an 0-6 start, Loyola has won two of three, defeating Yale on Nov. 23 before Thursday's victory over Towson. The Greyhounds have losses this season to Maryland, La Salle, Virginia Tech, Radford, Drexel, Mount St. Mary's, and Delaware.
- Loyola has been outscored by 11.7 points per game so far this season, averaging 53.6 points and allowing 65.2 per game. The Hounds have kept it close in the rebounding battle, sitting at a -1.0 margin. Loyola also has a negative turnover margin of -3.8.
- Lex Therien is the player to watch for Loyola as she averages 17.9 points and 9.2 rebounds per game. She also leads the team with 19 steals. The graduate student is a three-time all-conference selection who was named the Patriot League's Preseason Player of the Year before suffering an injury and only competing in three games last season. For her career, Therien has over 1,500 points and 1,000 rebounds. Therien has come on even stronger as of late, scoring 20 or more in four straight games, contributing three double-doubles in that stretch.
- Therien ranks in the top-50 nationally in double-doubles (17th, 4), field goals (31st, 65), and rebounds per game (49th, 9.2).
- Alongside Therien, Kimmie Hicks is the team's second-leading scorer at 8.9 per game. Ko Sims averages 8.1 points and 7.1 rebounds per night.
- The Greyhounds were picked to finish third in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, receiving three first-place votes. Navy and Army finished ahead of the Greyhounds in the poll while Therien was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team for the fourth time.
- Danielle O'Banion is in her fifth season at Loyola (Md.) and ninth as a Division I head coach after spending four seasons at Kent State from 2012-16. O'Banion is 42-88 with the Greyhounds, posting a 16-15 record in 2023-24. The 2001 Boston College graduate and team co-captain has a strong coaching resume that includes assistant coaching stops at Harvard, Minnesota, and Memphis. She was presented the USWBA Pat Summit Most Courageous Award in 2016 after coaching an entire season at Kent State while undergoing treatment for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
SCOUTING THE DAWGS
- The now two-time America East Rookie of the Week has taken a major jump since entering Coach Hill's starting lineup. Austin is averaging 18 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in four contests as a starter. She has upped her per-game scoring average from 9.6 to 13.3 during that stretch while taking 39 free throws and making 31 of them (79.4%).
- Jade Tillman is the other Retriever averaging more than 10 points per game in 2025, sitting at 11.8 after a 19-point showing at Morgan State on Saturday. Similar to Austin, Tillman has continued to get the job done at the free-throw line, shooting 84.4 percent for the season after an 8-8 outing. Tillman came out of the starting lineup for two games, but has since re-entered and rewarded that move with 15.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game over the past two victories against Presbyterian and Morgan State.
- A starter in the past two contests, junior Alaina Williams is showing well, averaging 7.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in 23.5 minutes per night in those wins. Williams led the Retrievers with eight rebounds at Morgan on Saturday.
- The UMBC bench has provided a great boost to start the season, ranking 58th nationally in bench points at 27.1 per game. The Retrievers have scored more than 40 points off the bench twice; 42 vs. Stevenson, and 41 at Brown. UMBC has scored at least 16 bench points in every game this season.
- UMBC has been stellar at the charity stripe to start the season, knocking down shots at a 75.0 percent clip. The Dawgs have two games this season in which they've been perfect from the line, including a15-15 performance vs. Brown. They rank 56th in the country and second in the America East. UMBC ranks 30th in the nation in free throws made per game with 16.0
- Thanks to a dominant effort on the offensive boards on Saturday, the Dawgs rank 34th in Division I with 15.4 offensive boards per game. UMBC pulled down 27 of its own misses in the win over Morgan State.
- Getting to the free-throw line at will, Austin ranks 17th in Division I in free throws made with 49. She ranks 20th in Division I in free throws attempted.
- The most experienced Retriever, Carmen Yanez sits one assist away from 200 for her career. She is off to a strong start in 2025-26, handing out 4.4 assists per game. Along with needing one assist to reach 200, she needs 14 more assists to etch her name into the UMBC record book as an addition to the list of all-time assist leaders.
NOTHING BUT NET
- As of Monday, Dec. 8, UMBC ranks 202nd in the NCAA's most recent NET rankings. In the NET era, UMBC had never reached higher than 269 in the rankings prior to the 2025-26 season.
- UMBC has reached as high as 187th in the NET rankings so far this season, the program's highest-ever.
- UMBC is 1-1 in Quadrant 1 with a win over Virginia and a loss to Maryland. The Retrievers have yet to play a Quadrant 2 or 3 game.
- Loyola (Md.) ranks 268th in the most recent NET rankings with an 0-2 record against Quadrant 1 and 2.
- Other rankings for the Dawgs include; Massey - 283, KPI - 227, Her Hoops - 240, Wins Against Bubble - 215
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.
- 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
