Senior guard Carlee Cassidy made five three’s in her 18 points performance against Boston U. She also had six assists and five rebounds. [Corey Johns- TRW]

In a place the women’s basketball team has never found success before, they bounced back from a miserable three-game losing streak in a big way with a 65-63 victory over Boston University at Chase Gym.

“We had such a bad stretch of three games at home and it’s unfortunate it came at that time with three home games after we played well for a stretch, but it happens,” said coach Phil Stern. “It’s such a long season and there is up’s and down’s.”

With nine lead changed in a game that neither team led by more than eight points the team found that energy that they were missing against Vermont and in order to try to get that spark back Stern continued to make changes to the starting lineup and his offensive and defensive schemes. Junior guard Chelsea Barker made her second straight start, but both Erin Brown and Michele Brokans were moved back to the bench in order to get Meghan Colabella and Michelle Kurowski back in the start lineup.

“We just changed it up a little bit,” Stern said. “Carlee [Cassidy] and Chelsea were bringing it up [the court as point guards] but [Katie Brooks] and Brokans still played 25 minutes. We played a little differently on the defensive end [with] a lot of switching man…it worked out.”

But in her new role as a part-time point guard Cassidy thrived. She recorded game highs with 18 points and six rebounds. Her 18 points came off five three-pointers, which were half of the team’s total, and three free throws. She also had five rebounds.

“We came out and made some shots early, which is really important for us since we’re a really good shooting team that hasn’t been shooting well,” Stern said. “Any time you make 10 three’s in a game you’re giving yourself a chance to win.”

The team’s 10th three-pointer turned out to be the biggest. With just under two minutes left in the game Brooks nailed her only three-pointer of the game, which put UMBC up by two points. The Terriers then missed their next three shots and a free throw. Their second attempt from the charity stripe cut UMBC’s lead to just one point with 24 seconds left, but the Retrievers made four of their next free throws to give UMBC the two points win.

After being going at the half, 37-37, the Terriers only managed to score two points in the paint. While they are a guard oriented team and “try to do a lot on the perimeter and try to shoot a lot of three’s,” according to Stern, much of that could be contributed to Topé Obajolu, who was not only a factor on defense, swatting in two blocks, but she also scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds and shot 75% from the free throw line.

Since the start of conference play, Obajolu has been on a role. In 13 non-conference games she was averaging just 5.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game and was struggling from the free throw line going just 6-of-20 (30.0%) from the free throw line. However, in seven conference games she has more than doubled her offensive production, averaging 12.1 p.p.g. with 5.6 r.p.g. She has also been exceptionally well from the free throw line, going 25-of-28 (89.3%).

“Even last year at times she showed signs of being a good player but she was a freshman and was just feeling her way,” Stern said. “She’s just real confident now that every time she touches the ball she can score. She can make a 16 or 17 foot jumper and she can make good post moves; she’s dangerous.

“Now that she’s making her foul shots we’ll throw the ball into her more because she wasn’t making her shots before and it was hard to throw it in…she’s a big player for us right now.”

Last season the women’s basketball team only managed to win one road game all season, and were losing by an average of 20 points per road contest, but this year they are 0-4 at home against conference opponents and 3-0 on the road against conference opponents.

“The fact that we’re 3-0 in [conference games] shows we have a lot of maturity,” Stern said. “We’ve gone to tough places we haven’t won a lot and have won.”

With a 3-4 overall conference record the team is going to be in search of their first home conference victory when they face the 5-14 Stony Brook Seawolves at 7:00 on Thursday, January 28.