DURHAM, N.H. -
UMBC earned its first America East victory of the season, defeating New Hampshire 58-47 on Saturday afternoon inside Lundholm Gymnasium. UMBC improved to 1-2 in conference play while the Wildcats dropped to 0-4.
After scoring 29 of the team's 43 points on Thursday, Jade Tillman and Heidi Williams led the way again, combining for 32 points in Saturday's win. Tillman scored 17 points and grabbed six boards, with Williams not far behind, contributing 15 points and six rebounds.
Tillman has scored 12 or more points in eight straight outings, averaging 17.1 per game over that stretch. Williams has now scored 15 or more points in three of her last four games after eight straight with 11 or fewer points.
A back-and-forth battle through 30 minutes, UMBC bested the Wildcats by 14 points in the final 10 to come away victorious. New Hampshire's Carolina Williams hit two free throws with seven seconds left in the third quarter to push the Wildcats ahead by three heading into the final quarter. New Hampshire went back ahead by three after a Katie Ledden bucket with 8:46 to play, but the Retrievers outscored the Wildcats 17-3 the rest of the way, taking the lead for good on an H. Williams layup with 3:22 left. Leading 49-47, UMBC scored the final nine points to close out an 11-point victory.
Alaina Williams scored six of her eight points in the fourth to help the Retrievers pull away.
Delaney Yarborough contributed five points, six rebounds, and two blocks in 18 minutes off the bench for UMBC.
The Retrievers won the turnover battle, giving the ball away just 10 times while forcing the Wildcats into 17 turnovers on the afternoon.
Candice Hill's program also got the job done at the charity stripe, hitting 82 percent of its free throws (18-22) in the win. UMBC held last year's America East scoring champion, Eva DeChent, to just 7 points on 2-10 shooting. No Wildcat scored more than nine points as the team shot just 31.1 percent from the field.
Saturday's win is the second straight win over New Hampshire for the Retrievers and pushes them ahead 22-21 in the all-time series.
The Retrievers return home to play host to Bryant on Thursday afternoon at 12 p.m. for the program's Midday Madness game in Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena.
