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.

After scoring just 21 points in the first half, four highly touted sophomores combined for 36 of the team’s 41 second half points as UMBC beat Albany 62-57 to even their overall record to 8-8 and improve their conference record to 2-1.

Neither team seemed to be able to take hold of the game in SEFCU arena in Albany, New York. There were eight lead changes between the Retrievers and Great Danes with neither team leading by more than seven points.

After a poor first half for UMBC where they totaled just 21 points and shot 29.6% from the field, the second half was a completely different story. After going into the half down 26-21, the Retrievers scored 41 second half points, ten more than Albany did.

The quartet of sophomores for UMBC totaled 36 of those points. Katie Brooks scored 14 of her team high 16 points after the break. Topé Obajolu scored 10 of her 15, Erin Brown scored seven of her 12 points, and Michelle Kurowski scored five of her eight points in the second half.

After averaging just over five points and three rebounds per game before conference play began, Obajolu had averaged 11 points and six rebounds in the three conference games so far. With lone exception of Hartford, the America East is built around solid guard play and Obajolu’s emergence into a consistent threat for UMBC could prove to be a key factor of success for UMBC down the stretch. She is the most athletic player on the team but is very inexperienced. While she did play in 27 games as a freshman and made four starts, she was used mostly for her defensive ability. If she can stay consistent on offense, UMBC can be a serious contender in the conference with a bevy of high scoring guards on the outside and Obajolu and Meghan Colebella on the inside.

That duo inside did not let the Albany offense get going in the game. Albany has been successful when they have gotten the to the rim, but the defensive presence of Obajolu and Colabella forced Albany to take 24 three-pointers, which did not go well for them as they made just 20.8% of their attempts. Albany shot just 35.7% from the floor and only managed to score 22 points in the paint.

After two straight road wins the team is going to return home for three straight road games as they will face New Hampshire, Binghamton, and Vermont in a span of six days.

The 4-4 UMBC women’s basketball team traveled to the Reitz Arena for a match up with the 3-5 Loyola Greyhounds. UMBC was leading by five with fewer than five minutes left in the first half, but two big runs by Loyola led the Greyhounds to an 81-74 victory.

Michelle Kurowski led all scorers with her 25 points, while Meghan Colabella, Chelsea Barker, and Katie Brooks also scored double figures. To go along with her 25 points Kurowski added 12 rebounds for her fourth double-double in what has been an incredible start to the season for the sophomore. Senior Carlee Cassidy only recorded one point in the loss, coming off of 1-3 free throw shooting. She was 0-5 from the field.

Loyola was led by Erica Diclemente who put up a career high 19 points and eight rebounds. The Greyhounds shot just over 48% from the field and the 81 points was the most they’ve scored beating UMBC 80-71 on December 21, 2008. Loyola also got 12 points from Miriam McKenzie and Kaitlin Grant nearly posted a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds. A big part of their scoring was also the 31 points they got from their bench.

With 4:55 left in the first half UMBC had taken a five point lead and looked to be in good shape going to the half. But with all that time left Loyola took advantage and went on a 15-6 run to lead 40-36 at the half. After back and forth action in the second half, the Greyhounds went on a 14-4 run with 12:20 left and from that point never let UMBC come within eight points of the lead. Loyola also made a season high 23 free throws against the Dawgs.

Coming up for UMBC is a trip to West Virginia on Tuesday, December 22nd. They have four straight road games before their next home game for the Retrievers is January 6 at 5 pm against America East Rival Hartford in their conference opener.

Comments can be sent to daniel23@umbc.edu.

With just eight seconds remaining two-time America East Conference scoring champion Carlee Cassidy went up for a game winning dunk but the ball just rimmed out. Coppin State’s Chanelle Downing grabbed the rebound, sealing the victory for the Golden Eagles.

Neither team shot well. While the UMBC defense held Coppin State to just a 33.8% shooting, the offense shot and abysmal 30.5%, and turned the ball over 25 times.

Four Retrievers turned in games with double-digits in scoring. Sophomore Michelle Kurowski led the charge with 11 points and 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Cassidy added 10 points and had six rebounds. Meghan Colabella was just one point away from a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.

Off the bench were Erin Brown and Katie Brooks who each scored 11 points and combined for 12 rebounds. This season Brooks started the first seven games, but Phil Stern decided to make a change at the point guard spot and give the job back to two-year starter, Michele Brokans.

While Brokans is more of a natural point guard, she is not a scoring threat. If Brooks can cut down her turnovers and stop making bad passes she can definitely work her way back into the starting five because of her added scoring ability.

Now with an even 4-4 record, the Retrievers will continue their road stretch with four more games to close out the 2009 years and head into conference play.

Michelle Kurowski scored 29 points and the UMBC defense forced 23 turnovers as the Retrievers held on late to defeat Bucknell 68-63 Sunday in Lewisberg, Pennsylvania for their second consecutive road victory while only playing with only nine players.

“Even though Kurowski had 29 tonight it was still a team win,” said Head Coach Phil Stern “We knew with Meg Colabella out we would need to grind it out. Any road win is a good win”

The Retrievers led by as much as 14 before the Bison chipped away and eventually tied the score at 60 with 2:40 remaining. Kurowski would sink two free throws to give UMBC the lead for good with 2:28 remaining.

Bucknell had a chance to tie it with under 5 seconds left but the desperation shot was well of the mark and Kurowski got the rebound, was fouled and sunk two free throws for the final score.

“Bucknell is a tough team, but we were able to work together and come out strong” said sophomore guard Katie Brooks who finished with 12 points and four assists “Last year we struggled on the road so it’s nice to get back to back wins like this.”

The Bison out-rebounded the Retrievers 48-34, but UMBC held 23-11 advantage in points off of turnovers.

The Retrievers return home to face Navy Wednesday at 7 pm, followed by a 2 pm game Saturday against the visiting Delaware Blue Hens.