The women’s basketball team will renew their rivalry with national power University of Maryland and exciting for UMBC fans, they will host them on November 19. They will also host reigning Ivy League Champion Princeton, which went 24-5 last season.

On December 28 and 29 UMBC will take part in the Virginia Tech Tournament, opening against High Point before playing either Cincinnati or Virginia Tech the next day.

UMBC will open the 2011-12 season on November 11 against Morgan State and will host New Hampshire on January 2 in their conference opener.

Friday, Nov. 11 – Morgan State – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 13 – @ Monmouth – 3:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 16 – @ Coppin State – 4:00 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 19 – Maryland – 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 22 – @ Loyola – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 27 – @ Towson – 2:00 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 3 – Princeton – 2:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 6 – UMES – 7:00 p.m.
Thursay, Dec. 8 – George Mason – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 10 – @ Hampton – 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 20 – @ Navy – 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 28 – vs. High Points (Virginia Tech Tournament) – 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 29 – vs. Cincinnati/Virginia Tech (Virginia Tech Tournament) – 5:00/7:00 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 2 – New Hampshire – 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan. 4 – @ Albany – TBA
Saturday, Jan. 7 – @ Maine – TBA
Thursday, Jan. 12 – Stony Brook – 7:00 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 16 – Hartford – 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, Jan 19 – @ Binghamton – TBA
Sunday, Jan 22 – @ Vermont – 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Jan 25 – Boston U (Midday Madness) – 12:00 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 28 – @ New Hampshire – 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 1 – Albany – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 4 – Maine (Hall of Fame Day) – 1:00 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 8 – @ Stony Brook – TBA
Wednesday, Feb. 15 – Binghamton (Pink Zone) – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 19 – @ Hartford – TBA
Wednesday, Feb. 22 – @ Boston U – TBA
Saturday, Feb. 25 – Vermont (Senior Day) – 1:00 p.m.
March 1-4 – America East Championships (U. Hartford)

Erin Brown made five 3-pointers against the Florida Gators. (Courtesy Harish Trivedi)

For 22 minutes the UMBC women’s basketball team completely outplayed Florida in the WNIT, taking an eight-point lead two minutes after halftime but Florida eventually got going and used their athleticism to shut down the Retrievers, ending their season in the WNIT, 59-47.

UMBC shot 53.8 percent from the field in the first half and took a 32-31 lead into the break. But teams that rely on outside shots go through a lot of streaks, good and bad. In the second half the Retrievers had one of those bad stretches as they shot only 15.4 percent from the floor and made only two of their 12 three-pointers in the final 20 minutes.

Tope Obajolu scored 16 points while Erin Brown scored 15 with five points. Meghan Colabella scored nine points and had a game-high 13 rebounds with four assists.

After UMBC took an eight point lead with 18:02 the Gatos went on a 20-3 run over the next 6:20 to take a 51-42 lead at the 11:43 mark. UMBC cut the lead to five points with 6:25 remaining but UMBC could not find a way to score again for the rest of the game.

Even though UMBC finished the season with back-to-back losses, UMBC had a remarkable season, posting a school record 20 victories while earning their second-ever postseason berth. Their 13-3 conference record won them their first-ever regular-season championship and for the first time ever the Retrievers had three all-conference players, two of whom were on the All-America East first-team. Michelle Kurowski, Erin Brown, and Tope Obajolu, will all return next season.

Featured Image Courtesy Harish Trivedi

Michelle Kurowski has been stellar this season for UMBC. (Courtesy Harish Trivedi)

The UMBC women’s basketball team (20-11) will play the University of Florida (18-14) on Firday in Gainsville, Fla in the first round of the WNIT.

UMBC earned an automatic berth to the tournament after winning the regular season championship before falling to eventually tournament champion Hartford in the AE semi-finals. Florida earned an at-large bid to the WNIT after finishing 18-14 and being knocked out of the SEC tournament in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Tennessee.

The only other time UMBC and Florida’s women’s basketball team’s have met before was on Dec. 31, 1986. Florida won that game, 71-52, at the Florida International Holiday Classic.

Florida, like UMBC, is a very guard oriented team. Jordan Jones (10.0 ppg), Jaterra Bonds (9.0 ppg), and Lanita Bartley (8.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.4 apg) are the team’s top three scorers but it was their defense that got the job done for them, for the most part, this year.

UMBC’s only common opponent with Florida is Brown. UMBC beat Brown 75-55 and a week later Florida actually lost to the Bears, 56-50. Florida has lost nine of their last 15 games.

Featured Image Courtesy Harish Trivedi.

UMBC had a tough test of facing fourth-seeded Hartford, in Hartford, and their pressuring defense was simply too much for UMBC as they lost, 66-48.

As the top seed, UMBC had a tough schedule in the tournament, playing Stony Brook, which they do not match-up well against, in the quarterfinals, and then the host team in the semifinals.

UMBC got out to a bad start, falling behind by 13 points in nine minutes, and went into the break training, 31-18.

The Retrievers shot only 4-for-25 from the field and were clearly hindered by the league’s top defense.

The second half was not much better for UMBC. With his team trailing by 15 points at 6:36, Stern received his second technical foul of the game, forcing his ejection from the game and eventually his team was ousted from the tournament.

While UMBC is out of the America East tournament, they will be playing in the WNIT as a result of winning the regular season championship.

Meghan Coleballa scored 12 points and played stellar defense against all-conference forward Kirsten Jeter.

Teams were able to limit Michelle Kurowski late in the regular season, but Stony Brook had trouble containing her as she scored 23 points with 13 rebounds and three steals, all of which were game-highs.

Stony Brook made UMBC work for their first tournament victory since they won the 2007 championship but eventually UMBC was able to get out of the game with a 74-65 victory.

Joining Kurowski in double figures on the scoreboard were Erin Brown, Meghan Colabella, and Tope Obajolu, who scored 17, 12, and 11 points, respectfully. Surprisingly, Colabella and Obajolu led the Retrievers in assists, recording six and five, respectfully.

While UMBC had plenty of people score, their defense really limited the Seawolves offense. Kirsten Jeter got her usual double-double against UMBC as she scored 17 points with 11 rebounds, but she did not have a good shooting game, making only 6-of-14 shots. Colabella and Kristen Coles switched off Jeter all game and never really let her get in a rhythm. Juanita Cochran and Sam Landers scored 15 and 10 points, respectfully, for SBU.

The Retrievers, who won their 20th game of the year, will play host team Hartford on Sunday at 1:34 p.m.

Meanwhile, both Michelle Kurowski and Erin Brown were named to the America East first-team and Tope Obajolu was named to the AE third-team.

Kurowski finished the regular season with 14.6 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game, 2.8 assists per game, 1.8 steals per game, 1.4 three’s per game, while hitting 39.7 percent of her shots and 32.5 percent of her three-pointers.

Brown finished the regular season averaging 14.2 points, and a team-high 6.1 rebounds while making 39 percent of her shots and 32 percent of her three-pointers, making two per game.

Obajolu finished with 10.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, and made 40.6 percent of her shots this season as she played lock-down interior defense.

None of those postseason honors are questionable, but what is questionable is how Kurowski was passed over for the Player of the Year award for Boston U’s Chantell Alford. Alford had a fine season and led the AE in points, but barely over Kurowski with 15.0 ppg. She also had less rebounds, 3.8 per game. Their statistics are similar but Kurowski was simply more successful, record-wise, and did more.

We’ll see which is right come tournament time I suppose.

Kurowski was named to the All-academic team.

<strong>After a great first half Meghan Colabella got in foul trouble, but she finished when her team needed her to.</strong>

The women’s basketball team was on a mission – they were not going to lose at home, on senior night, with a regular season championship and guaranteed WNIT bid on the line.

Senior Meghan Colabella scored 17 points, ten in the first half, to lead the Retrievers to a 62-55 victory while Erin Brown scored 16 points with 12 rebounds and Michelle Kurowski had 10 points with eight rebounds.

UMBC went down by two baskets and did not score in the first five minutes of the game but back-to-back three-pointers by Colabella gave them the lead. After Cassandra Callaway hit a shot to tie the game, Brown sparked an 11 point run for the Retrievers, and they never slowed down.

The Retrievers made half of their shots from the floor in the first half, including five three-pointers, while the Great Danes struggled to get past their defense as they shot only 26.9 percent and made only one three-pointer.

Despite 24 turnovers, the big defensive effort in the first half gave UMBC enough of a buffer that they held off for the victory. UMBC went into halftime 30-16 but was outscored 39-32 in the second half. Albany was able to cut the deficit to five points with a minutes left in the game but Colabella made four free throws while Kurowski and Brown each made two to close out the game.

UMBC ended their season on a six-game winning streak for their first ever regular season America East championship.

Featured Image Courtesy Harish Trivedi

Michele Brokans scored a career-high 11 points against Hartford.

The UMBC women’s basketball team won their first-ever game at Hartford’s Chase Arena at the Reich Family Pavilion. After trailing by eight points at the half the Retrievers rallied back in the second half to get a 53-48 win over the Hawks, completing a season sweep of Hartford as well as giving them their fifth straight win and 17th in 22 games.

Even though the Retrievers were outshot 32 percent to 40 percent in the first 20 minutes the women’s basketball team played incredible defense and allowed the Hawks to only score 28 points before the break. Then, in the second half, the Retrievers shot 42 percent from the floor and made five of their nine three-pointers while Hartford could only make 24 percent of their shots.

Erin Brown continued her torrid scoring streak with four three-pointers in a game-high 22 points while Michelle Kurowski scored 10 points with five rebounds. Senior Michele Brokans made a career-high three three-pointers as she had her first ever double-digit scoring game. She also had six assists.

Tope Obajolu scored 12 of her 17 points in the first half.

The women’s basketball team avenged an earlier loss to Boston University with a 62-52 victory in the RAC arena, which not only moved them into first place in the America East, but tied a school record for most wins in a Division I season as they stand at 17-10.

UMBC dominated the Terriers in the first half, going into the break with a 36-19 lead at the half. Led by junior center Tope Obajolu, who scored 12 of her 17 points in the first half, the Retrievers outscored the Terriers 20-4 in the paint in the first 20 minutes of the game.

But even more of an impact was the Retrievers defense. UMBC allowed Boston U to make 29.6 percent of their shots in the first half and caused 12 turnovers, which resulted in half of the team’s points.

While the Terriers attempted a comeback in the second half, outscoring the Retrievers 33-26, Erin Brown scored 10 of her 18 points in the second half to go with 11 rebounds while Meghan Colabella scored eight points with 10 rebounds and five blocks to hold off their opponent and get the win.

Senior point guard Michelle Brokans was limited with foul trouble but sophomore guard Kristin Coles gave UMBC a big boost with nine points off the bench in 24 minutes. Michelle Kurowski also scored eight points with seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals.