ATHENS, OHIO - UMBC fought back from a 17-point second-quarter deficit to take Ohio to overtime on Thursday night before outlasting the Bobcats in the extra period for a 62-58 victory in the WNIT.
Thursday night's win is the Retrievers' first postseason victory since a 61-49 win over Fairfield in the WBIT in 2016.
The Retrievers faced their largest deficit after a Rere Jenning three at the 2:57 mark of the second quarter, putting Ohio ahead 27-10.
Gabby Scott nailed a triple of her own with 11 seconds left in the break, and UMBC entered the locker room trailing by 13.
Alaina Williams knocked down a pair of free throws with eight minutes left to play in the third quarter, trimming the deficit to single digits. By the 3:11 mark of the third quarter, UMBC was within five after a
Delaney Yarborough bucket. With 1:41 to play, it was a two-point game as Yarborough tipped in her own miss to make it 38-36. Elli Garnett would score with 40 seconds left for Ohio to send the game to the fourth with the Bobcats ahead by four.
With 9:02 to play, Asiah Baxter connected from three, pushing Ohio's lead back up to 10. Then the UMBC run began. First, it was a
Tiara Bellamy jumper with 6:59 to play, pulling UMBC within eight. 23 seconds later, it was
Heidi Williams who got to the bucket, trimming the gap to six. At the 5:21 mark,
Carmen Yánez drilled a three and UMBC trailed 46-43. With 3:23 to play, the Retrievers tied the game as Scott knocked down a triple. With 2:41 to play, it was
Jade Tillman who gave UMBC its first lead since early in the first quarter. The Retrievers would take a four-point lead with 1:03 to play, but Bailey Tabeling ended UMBC's 14-0 run with 54 seconds left. Antonicia Moultrie would make two free throws with nine seconds left to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Tillman hit a three with 2:59 left in the extra period, putting UMBC ahead 55-52. The Retrievers wouldn't trail again.
Kennedy Austin got to the bucket with 1:25 to play, putting UMBC ahead 58-54. Ohio pulled within two with nine seconds left, but Austin knocked down two more free throws and added two more to the cause in the final five seconds to close out a 62-58 victory.
Tillman's double-figure scoring streak reached 24 games with 13 points and five rebounds tonight. She moves into seventh-place all-time on the UMBC single-season scoring list with 489 points. 11 points on Monday would make her just the sixth player in school history to reach 500 points in a season.
Austin added 12 points and five rebounds, reaching double figures for just the third time in 2026 after doing so six times in the early portion of the season. H. Williams narrowly missed a double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Yarborough grabbed 11 rebounds and added eight points, while Scott contributed nine points and seven rebounds.
UMBC will travel to West Virginia to take on Marshall at 6:00 p.m. on Monday.
