UMBC finished in third place in the Commissioner’s Cup standings last season and there is plenty of reason to believe they will be more successful this season.

With the 2011-2012 athletic season starting in only a few days when the women’s soccer team plays their season opener here are five bold predictions for this upcoming year.

The women’s sports will break through

Ali Loynchan

Last season the volleyball team shocked a lot of people when they took an incredibly young group to finals of the America East tournament. Meanwhile, the women’s basketball team won their first-ever regular season championship and the women’s lacrosse team played in their second-straight championship game.

There is a lot of reason to believe that all three of those teams will again contend for a championship and while I’m at it, I’m saying at least two of the three will.

Last year the volleyball team had 14 players on it, 10 of them were only freshmen or sophomores, getting significant playing time. While losing Sabrina Hoeks and Bianca Sande is going to be tough both on the court and in the locker room there is plenty of leadership to be provided from their four upper classmen and plenty of talent on the roster. Ian Blanchard has also added an incredibly talented freshman class again, led by Hannah Schmidt, the Baltimore Sun and Varsity Sports Network 2010 Player of the Year.

The women’s basketball team returns three all-conference players, including two Player of the Year candidates. All three will be seniors with plenty of experience under their belts. While the team will have to replace two work-horses in Meghan Colabella and Michele Brokans, they have two eligible transfers capable of playing at a very high level while last year’s group of freshmen should be able to provide a lot in their sophomore seasons.

The women’s lacrosse team did lose a lot of talented offensive players, like Amanda Pappas, Erika Braerman, and Ashley Stodter, but there are still loads of talent left on the roster. First-team All-Conference Player Alicia Krause should once again lead the Retrievers while Emily Coady should bounce-back as a senior. The defense should also remain a solid unit with Lauren Mundell, Jessica Harkey, and Jamie Fahey all sticking around.

While I’m on the subject of women’s sports…

At least two female athletes will win Player of the Year awards

Michelle Kurowski

The only reasons the women’s basketball team did not have the America East Player of the Year last season was because Erin Brown and Michelle Kurowski were both so good that they split votes. Both should be in contention for it again this season and it might be the year one of them wins it.

Meanwhile, a member of the volleyball team will definitely be in contention of a significant award, which is what happens when you have a good team. Allie Spaay was in contention for the Setter of the Year award last year and she may have won it had she not missed significant time with an injury. Ali Loynachan should definitely be right there with the conference’s best hitters.

Alicia Krause will also be in major contention for the Player of the Year award in women’s lacrosse. Last season she was a major candidate for it after finishing with 35 goals, 15 assists, 29 ground balls, 32 draw controls, and 20 caused turnovers. With three of the team’s top five goal scorings having graduated she’ll have plenty more opportunities to score and the offense is definitely going to be going through here. Emily Coady could be a dark horse this season as well. She has a stellar sophomore campaign but was quiet last season as Erika Braerman ran the game behind the net, but now that position is open for Coady again.

Let’s also not forget about Abbey McKenney on the swimming team, who won the Most Oustanding Swimmer award after winning six gold medals at the America East Championship Meet, leading the Retrievers to a conference title.

Men’s Soccer will repeat as champions

Andrew Bulls

Whooh, that’s a pretty big prediction, especially since they lost a very talented group of seniors, including the nation’s leading scorer the past two seasons, Levi Houapeu, but the Pete Caringi lead Retrievers should once again be one of the best teams in the nation. With Andrew Bulls, Pete Caringi III, Nirav Kadam, and incoming All-American Kadeem Dacres the Retrievers should once again have a very potent offense. While John Paul Waraksa and Chris Williams will both be missed on the defensive end, the return of Sean Rothe should help bolster a defensive unit with Vince Savarese, Liam Paddock, and Daniel Welsh that played very well last season.

They team will once again be having a very interesting goalkeeper battles going into the season but with three incredibly talented players at the position, they’ll be in great shape no matter who wins it.

Caringi also brought in a very strong freshman class, led by Zach Wenger, who has been playing against top-notch competition his entire youth career as a part of the United Stats National Team.

Men’s Basketball will bounce back significantly

Chris De La Rosa

The last two seasons have been very difficult for the men’s basketball team, going a combined 9-51. But the team should definitely be much better this season. They probably won’t contend for a championship or anything but they very well could finish in the top half of the nine-team conference.

While the team does lose four players that saw significant time last season Chris De La Rosa may have been the conference best point guard last season and he’ll lead a group of guys that have finally grown up and have a lot of experience with them.

Last season four of the team’s major contributors were freshmen or sophomores but not that they know the ropes Jamar Wertz, Chase Plummer, Brian Neller and Adrian Satchell, who was an All-Rookie team selection two seasons ago, should be able to provide him with a lot of help while Randy Monroe’s incoming class is one of his most talented yet.

The Men’s Lacrosse team will return to the nation’s elite

Scott Jones

From 2006 to 2009 Don Zimmerman has the men’s lacrosse team in the upper echelon of the collegiate lacrosse world, reaching rankings as high as fourth in the nation at some points. But the last two years the team has had losing seasons and has missed the NCAA tournament. That what losing 17 All-Conference players and nine All-American in a four year span does to teams, especially when those players have to be replaced by 27 freshmen and sophomores on a 35-man rosters.

The men’s lacrosse team was incredibly young last year and it really showed. But this year Zimmerman, who is already regarded as one of the best coaches in the history of the game, really bolstered his coaching staff by getting Ed Stephenson back after an incredibly successful stint at Binghamton and has some experience to work with. Now those 27 freshmen and sophomores are seasoned players and will be joining a very experienced group of five seniors.

Scott Jones developed into an elite scorer as a sophomore while Rob Grimm continued his yearly-improvement as a junior. Players like Scott Hopmann, Dave Brown, Joe Lustgarten, Zach Linkous, Greg Korvin, Neill Lewnes, Matt Gregoire, and Ryan Johnston all showed a lot of promise last season and could make for a very dangerous and deep offensive unit while Brian McCullough, Aaron Verardi, Lucas Wood, Sam McKelvey, Riley Hansen, Breck Merritt, Nathan Klein, Ethan Murphy, and Tony Spada are all returning on the defensive side of things.

Coach of the Year

Ian Blanchard – Volleyball

There is absolutely no denying how incredible it was what Pete Caringi Jr. did with the men’s soccer team but from a pure coaching perspective Ian Blanchard’s coaching job was more impressive. Chad Cradock, Phil Stern and Pete Caringi Jr. all had incredible teams to work with and were expected to do well but Blanchard had a team filled with eight true freshman and another redshirt freshman. On top of that his two seniors both had injury ridden careers limiting their experience. None of that mattered though. Things started out a little rough but once the team got into conference player they were fantastic and made a great run all the way to the America East Championship Game, a game they look like they’ll be playing in for many years to come.

Male Freshman of the Year

Johan Rohtla – M. Swimming and Diving

At the end of a stellar first season Johan Rohtla stepped up even more at the America east championship meet. Rohtla was named the conference’s Outstanding Male Rookie after medaling four time while breaking and re-breaking a school record in the 200-yard backstroke.

Female Freshman of the Year

Kim Berghaus – Women’s Tennis

Coming in as a freshman in any sport is hard enough as you have to learn the system and adjust to the collegiate level. But coming in as a freshman from another country having to not only learn the system of the level of Division I collegiate athletes, but also a new language and culture is even tougher. But Berghaus thrived through all of that and making her freshman year even more impressive was that she was put in the top spot and has a team best 11-6 record and went 11-4 in doubles competition en route to being names the America East conference women’s tennis Rookie of the Year.

Male Performance of the Year

Levi Houapeu’s Hat Trick against Vermont

Needing a victory to clinch a berth in the AEC tournament Levi Houapeu carried the men’s soccer team to a 3-1 victory over Vermont. In the 33rd minute of that game Houapeu broke away from the defense after receiving a long, bouncing pass from goalkeeper Dan Lousiginau and while his initial shot was blocked, he came up with the rebound to get UMBC on the board. Then, barely over a minute into the second half Houapeu ran from left to right across the goal and flicked the ball across his body, nearly over his left shoulder, into the upper right corner of the goal. But his third goal was the most impressive. In the 52nd minute he beat three defenders and lofted a shot into the upper right corner of the goal from 16 yards out.

Female Performance of the Year

McKenney wins five at AE Championships

How can winning five gold medals to lead your team to a conference championship not be the best performance of the year? Abbey McKenney was absolutely unstoppable, winning 50-yard free, 100-yard free, and 200-yard free individually while anchoring the winning 200-yard and 400-yard free relay teams.

Male Comeback Player of the Year

Dan Louisignau – Men’s Soccer

He did not play last year because of a torn labrum, but from the beginning of the year to the end of the year he really progressed. In the team’s season opener against VMI Louisignau played the entire second half and really struggled, giving up all three goals. But by the end of the season he was one of the AEC’s top goalkeepers and a second team All-AEC selection after stopping 84.5 percent of the shots he was faced with and shutting out five opponents.

Female Comeback Player of the Year

Sabrina Hoeks – Volleyball

Back-to-back seasons ended when she tore her ACL but Sabrina Hoeks never gave up and never look frustrated on the court despite really only have the playing experience of a sophomore. While Hoeks also had a huge responsibility to serve as a leader to a team with eight freshman, on the court she as dominant, leading UMBC to an AE Championship game appearance with a team-high 297 kills with 291 digs, the second most on the team. She also lead the team with 58 aces and her .59 aces per set ranked in the top ten in the nation.

Breakout Male Athlete of the Year

Scott Jones – Men’s Lacrosse

I’ll admit. Before this season I never even heard of Scott Jones. He was on the team and saw time in a few games last year but he was pretty much a non-factor. Not this year though. This year Jones proved to be one of the best scorers in the conference and dominated defenses once he got in the right position. With a team-high 23 goals the second-team all-conference attackman looks to be the centerpiece of the squad for the next two years.

Breakout Female Athlete of the Year

Tope Obajolu – W. Basketball

Tope Obajolu just keeps getting better and better each year. Last year she became a full-time starter as a sophomore after barely seeing the floor her freshman year and became a key piece in the team’s success but this year she took her game to a whole new level and after averaging 10.6 points and 4.3 rebounds she was a third-team all-conference player and one of the league’s top defenders. More importantly though the team really ran through her, when they won, she was on the top of her game and when they lost, she was disappointing and this year, the team had way more wins than losses.

Unsung Male Athlete of the Year

Jamie Kimbles – Men’s Lacrosse

When you only score 10 goals and have eight assists but still make an all-conference lacrosse team it says a lot about your ability. Jamie Kimbles was put in a very difficult spot this season. With so much youth on the team Kimbles not only had to be a quality starter but he had to be the leader or the men’s lacrosse team. Before the season Kimbles suffered an injury and was out pretty much all of the preseason. He came back a few games into the season but was still rusty. But when he finally got back to full health it was clear just how much he meant to the team. When he got healthy the offense ran through him and the team turned things around and went 5-3 in their final eight games.

Unsung Female Athlete of the Year

Michele Brokans and Meghan Colabella – W. Basketball

I still can’t pick between the two. Both of these players were simply amazing in terms of their mindset of the game. Neither one cared about stats, they just wanted to win. Michele Brokans was not much of a scorer but if she was she would have been at Tennessee playing for Pat Summit because the rest of what she did was that good. She was a great defender, great leader, and great point guard, constantly putting her teammates in the best position to succeed. Colabella on the other hand had plenty of offensive ability but care more about her rebounding numbers than her scoring totals. Colabella also took on one of the team’s top offensive players each and every night and did all of the dirty work that most players don’t exactly like to do.

Fan’s Choice Male Athlete of the Year

Levi Houapeu – Men’s Soccer

When you lead your team to the second round of the NCAA tournament, establish yourself as one of the best players in the nation, and become the team’s first MLS draft pick ever, it’s hard not to become a fan favorite. Levi Houapeu represented everything UMBC wants. He didn’t start out as a super star, instead, he worked incredibly hard his first two seasons and dominated everybody his last two years, finishing as the highest scoring player in the nation the last two seasons combined.

Fan’s Choice Female Athlete of the Year

Sabrina Hoeks – Volleyball

It’s hard not to root for Sabrina Hoeks. With all the injuries she’s been through it’s quite inspiring to see how she came back and became one of the top players in the America East conference, all while completely changing the dynamic of the volleyball team, making it more of a winning team atmosphere rather than a group of talented individuals.

Best Moment

Men’s Soccer Wins AEC Championship and beats Princeton in NCAA tournament

That whole span of time between the men’s soccer team’s championship victory and victory over No. 10 Princeton in the NCAA tournament was just phenomenal. Winning their first America East championship, ending an 11-year championship drought, was incredible after beating New Hampshire in penalty kicks following 120 of a scoreless draw. But the run didn’t end there. The men’s soccer team was special and got the first NCAA tournament victory in program history when they upset Princeton on the road in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Male Athlete of the Year

Levi Houapeu – Men’s Soccer

It should be no surprise. Houapeu has proven to be one of the best players in UMBC soccer history. After the team fell in the America East finals last season Houapeu passed on opportunities to go pro because he wanted to win a championship, and he did just that. With 15 goals and four assists Houapeu was one of the best players in the nation again and was named a third team All-American by College Soccer News and NSCAA.

Female Athlete of the Year

Abbey McKenney – W. Swimming and Diving

Five gold medals in the America East championships to lead the team to their first title in three years says it all. McKenney not only won five medals though, she broke four records that weekend and broke six records this season, four of which were as a member of a relay team.

Top Coach

Phil Stern – W. Basketball

Picked fifth in the preseason coach’s polls, the women’s basketball team, led by Phil Stern, won the regular season championship with a 13-3 record against America East opponents. This season the women’s basketball team had their best season in their Division I history, as for the first time ever, not only did they win a regular season championship, but they had a winning record against Division I opponents.

Male Freshman of the Winter

Johan Rohtla – M. Swimming and Diving

At the end of a stellar first season Johan Rohtla stepped up even more at the America east championship meet. Rohtla was named the conference’s Outstanding Male Rookie after medaling four time while breaking and re-breaking a school record in the 200-yard backstroke.

Female Freshman of the Winter

Kirsten Jones – W. Track and Field

There was not really one particular female freshman that completely stood out but Kirsten Jones definitely had the best season. At the Gulden Relays, the indoor track and field team’s second meet of the season, Jones won the 500-meter dash and then later won two bronze medals in the 200-meter and 400-meter dash, respectively. The bronze in the 400-meter dash came at the America East championships.

Best Male Performance

Justin Fry gets 20-20 on senior night

Justin Fry could not have had a better performance to go out on in his last game at the RAC. There is a lot of emotion that goes into a players senior day but instead of letting that emotion get to him and making him play uncontrollably, he settled down and became the first Retriever ever to grab 20 rebounds in the same game he scored 20 points.

Best Female Performance

McKenney wins five at AE Championships

How can winning five gold medals to lead your team to a conference championship not be the best performance of the year? Abbey McKenney was absolutely unstoppable, winning 50-yard free, 100-yard free, and 200-yard free individually while anchoring the winning 200-yard and 400-yard free relay teams.

Best Moment

Swimming sweeps America East championships

Maybe it is just expected at this point that the swimming and diving teams are going to win the championships but every time they do it is more and more impressive. The America East conference has really improved since UMBC joined and the competition is getting so much tougher, so the fact that this dynasty is so strong makes it so impressive and having the women’s team join them makes it so much sweeter.

Most Improved Male Athlete

Steve Gallagher – M. Swimming and Diving

For the first two years of his career Steve Gallagher showed some decent potential but as a junior he stepped up and became the team’s top short-distance freestyle swimmer behind all-time great Eric Jones but what made him so much better was that he completely redefined his role and became one of the team’s top relay swimmers.

Most Improved Female Athlete

Tope Obajolu – W. Basketball

Two years in a row Tope Obajolu has earned this award, and for good reason. Last year she became a full-time starter as a sophomore after barely seeing the floor her freshman year and became a key piece in the team’s success but this year she took her game to a whole new level and after averaging 10.6 points and 4.3 rebounds she was a third-team all-conference player and one of the league’s top defenders. More importantly though the team really ran through her, when they won, she was on the top of her game and when they lost, she was disappointing and this year, the team had way more wins than losses.

Unsung Male Athlete

Bakari Smith – M. Basketball

With the men’s basketball team’s record as bad as it was and Bakari Smith not putting up sexy numbers, he really didn’t get the respect that he deserved. Smith was not the reason the team lost. No, he didn’t score much, but he wasn’t supposed to. His job was to play defense, and he was one of the best on the team, and move the ball around as a second point guard on the floor next to Chris De La Rosa, which he also did very well.

Unsung Female Athlete

Michele Brokans and Meghan Colabella – W. Basketball

I can’t pick between the two. Both of these players were simply amazing in terms of their mindset of the game. Neither one cared about stats, they just wanted to win. Michele Brokans was not much of a scorer but if she was she would have been at Tennessee playing for Pat Summit because the rest of what she did was that good. She was a great defender, great leader, and great point guard, constantly putting her teammates in the best position to succeed. Colabella on the other hand had plenty of offensive ability but care more about her rebounding numbers than her scoring totals. Colabella also took on one of the team’s top offensive players each and every night and did all of the dirty work that most players don’t exactly like to do.

Fan’s Choice Male Athlete of the Winter

Chris De La Rosa – M. Basketball

Plain and simple, Chris De La Rosa was fun to watch and probably should have been the Player of the Year because he was that good. The team’s record kept that dream from coming a reality but a league high 6.0 assists, second-most 15.5 points per game, and 3.9 rebounds per game show just how impressive he was.

Fan’s Choice Female Athlete of the Winter

Michelle Kurowski – W. Basketball

What’s not to like about Michelle Kurowski? Stepping in to fill a role of one of the best scorers in conference history is hard to do but Kurowski looked natural doing the job and the first-team all-conference guard averaged a team-high 14.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.9 steals, and 1.3 three-pointers per game as she led the women’s basketball team to their first-ever regular season championship.

Male Athlete of the Winter

Eric Jones – M. Swimming and Diving

Having a year better than Eric Jones is impossible because he did not have a blemish on his record. Erin Jones was undefeated in the 200-yard freestyle his senior season. Jones went 11-0 in dual meets and won the event at the America East championships.

Female Athlete of the Winter

Abbey McKenney – W. Swimming and Diving

Five gold medals in the America East championships to lead the team to their first title in three years says it all. McKenney not only won five medals though, she broke four records that weekend and broke six records this season, four of which were as a member of a relay team.

*The photos in the post were taken by either me, Harish Trivedi, or UMBC Athletics

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.

Erin Brown led the team with 18 points and made six free throws in the final minute to put the game out of reach for Stony Brook.

The women’s basketball team was not at their best, but the sign of a good team is winning when things aren’t going according to plan.

Against Stony Brook UMBC turned the ball over 27 times, which tied a season-high set against ACC power Virginia, and missed several great scoring opportunities. But they still managed to get a win over the Seawolves, 65-47, giving the team their fourth-straight win, eighth-straight at home, and a 7-2 conference record, which is their best start since joining the America East Conference in 2003. Those seven victories with seven more conference games to play already matches the most they’ve ever had in the AEC.

The win also marked the 200th career victory in Phil Stern’s 15-year coaching career.

UMBC was matched by Stony Brook for the first 20 minutes, going into halftime ties, 27-27. But after some changes to the offense UMBC controlled the tempo and never trailed in the second half against the Seawolves.

Midway through the second half junior center Tope Obajolu made one of her team-high six assists with a no-look pass inside to Michelle Kurowski, who made a left-handed shot, drew a foul, and complete the three-point play.

That play really sparked UMBC for the rest of the game. After that they started moving the ball better and were hitting their shots inside.

But Stony Brook didn’t go away. Kirsten Jeter, who led Stony Brook with 17 points and 10 rebounds, exchanged a couple of baskets with Obajolu, who scored nine of her 12 points in the second half, before Juanita Cochran hit a layup and Sam Landers his a three-pointer to cut UMBC’s lead to three points.

Kurowski found a way back to the line two more times to finish the game with 15 points and got UMBC a two-possession lead but a 6-2 run by Stony Brook over the next minute cut their deficit to one point.

Then Erin Brown, who led UMBC with 18 points, found her way inside for a layup, sparking a 9-0 run by UMBC that included five straight points by Obajolu, to give the Retrievers a double-digit lead with very little time for Stony Brook to get back in contention.

Stony Brook still made some shots but UMBC made nine of 12 free throws to end the game, clinching the victory.

While the team turned the ball over 27 times, none of those turnovers came from fourth year point guard Michele Brokans.

Meghan Colabella was also the fourth Retriever to score in double figures with 11 points to go with six rebounds, which tied Kurowski for a team-high, while Kristin Coles chipped in six points and five assists off the bench while providing her usually strong defense that helped lead to holding the AEC’s highest scoring team to 57 points.

Tope Obajolu has set career-highs in back-to-back games.

After a victory against the Hartford Hawks Phil Stern said he thought Tope Obajolu was the best post player in the league and she proved his point again with a career-best 28-point effort as the women’s basketball team beat New Hampshire, 69-51.

UMBC dominated New Hampshire in the paint, outscoring them 24-16 in the paint and outrebounding them 32-26. Obajolu was responsible for most of that, making 10 field goals inside for 20 of the team’s points in the paint.

UNH played heavy defense on Michelle Kurowski, who was held to only two three-pointers for six points, but the rest of the team stepped up and helped Obajolu. Erin brown scored 12 points, Meghan Colabella scored seven with six rebounds, Kristin Coles matched those stats, and point guard Michele Brokans scored eight points with seven rebounds while getting three steals.

The Retrievers couldn’t quite break away from the Wildcats in the first half, though they had a 28-20 lead at halftime, but after UNH cut the deficit to six points at 11:30, UMBC went on a 17-4 run over the next 4:30 to get out to a 19 points lead before Jill McDonald, the same person who hit the layup before the UMBC run, got to the free throw line and made both of her shots.

But at that point the game was over. New Hampshire had only six minutes to outscore UMBC by 16 points to at least force overtime and UMBC didn’t let that happen and continued to work the ball inside to Obajolu as the team 44.6 percent of their total shots in their fifth conference win in seven tries and seventh straight win at home.

Tope Obajolu led UMBC with 20 points against Hartford.

Five minutes of overtime wasn’t even enough to separate the women’s basketball teams of UMBC and Hartford. After 45 minutes the score was deadlocked at 59-59, but in a second five minute overtime UMBC finally pulled away, outscoring Hartford 8-1 for a 67-60 victory.

With the losses of two first-team All-AEC post players from a year ago Hartford has made a transition to being a team that get most of their points from outside and against UMBC they made 11 three-pointers, five of which came from Daphne Elliot, who scored 17 points.

The Hawks made seven of their three-pointers in the first half and went into the intermission with a 32-26 lead. UMBC, which has also made a living from outside, was struggling from the perimeter against Hartford, making only 1-of-12 three-point attempts. But in the second half they got rolling inside and did enough to force an extra five minutes in the game.

Tope Obajolu and Meghan Colabella scored 20 and 11 points, respectively, and combined for 14 rebounds. Michelle Kurowski on the other hand started to get inside more, scoring 18 points with nine rebounds. UMBC outrebounded Hartford 45-35 in the game.

After falling behind by two points after a fast break layup by Alex Hall the Retrievers went on a 5-0 run with three free throws and a layup over nearly a one minute span from 1:51 to 0:55 for take a three-point lead.

Hartford turned over the ball with 41 seconds left and UMBC tried to run the clock out as much as they could but at the end of the shot clock Michele Brokans missed the game clinching layup, giving Hartford 10 seconds to get the ball down the court for a final shot.

Hartford coach Jen Rizzoti called a time out and sent her three-point unit out on the floor and as the buzzer sounded Jackie Smith nailed a three to extend the game at least five more minutes.

But the Hawks didn’t have enough left in the tank in the second overtime period as UMBC scorer seven points before Elliot got to the line and got Hartford only point in that period with only 10 seconds remaining on the clock.

Binghamton could not find anybody that could stop Kurowski.

Junior guard Michelle Kurowski has done a lot of amazing things in her career but she nearly beat Binghamton by herself. On Wednesday night Kurowski tied her career-high, scoring 30 points, in a 55-38 victory for the women’s basketball team, which snapped a four-game losing streak to the Bearcats.

Kurowski made her presence felt early. After Tope Obajolu scored the opponent basket and was matched just second later by Jasbriell Swain, Kurowski scored the next 13 points for the Retrievers leading to a 20-8 lead only 10 minutes into the game.

At halftime Kurowski matched Binghamton’s point total with 16 but the Bearcats were still unable to find a way to stop here in the second half, where she added 14 points, including UMBC’s last nine.

She moved into 14th place all-time with 1,044 career points.

It was Kurowski’s night. She made her first six shots in the game, finishing 12-for-19 from the field, while making three three’s in the game. She didn’t do it all though, five other players chipped in points as well. Michele Brokans made two three’s in a six points effort, which matched the totals of Tope Obajolu and Kristin Coles. While Brokans continued to show her newly developed three-point shots and did what she did best the entire game, setting up her teammates. Brokans became the 19th Retriever in school history to surprise the 300 assists with seven on the night. Meanwhile, Meghan Colabella grabbed eight rebounds as she became the 14th player in school history to reach the 500 career rebound mark.

Colabella also led an impressive defensive effort. UMBC had a big night from Kurowski, but an even bigger night from the defense. The Retrievers never let the Bearcats get into a rhythm. In the first half they shot only 31.8 percent from the field and in the second half UMBC let them make one more basket, but their field goal percentage dropped to 27.6 percent. They also only made two of their 16 three-pointers in the game.

The last time UMBC held an opponent to less than 40 point was on February 1, 2006, when they gave up only 37 points, to Binghamton of all teams.

It looked like it was headed into overtime as the women’s basketball team battled Maine to a 57-57 score with the final seconds coming off the clock, but with 0.4 seconds left in the game Tanna Ross threw up a prayer, and it went in, handing UMBC a 60-57 loss, their first road conference loss of the season.

Neither team could get much of a lead on their opponent. The largest lead came with 7:18 left in the second half when Maine took a seven point advantage, but am 11-3 run got the Retrievers back within one point of the Black Bears with 3:14 left and with 19 ticks remaining on the clock Michelle Kurowski sunk a three to tie the game. But it wasn’t their night.

The Retrievers mad too many bad decisions shooting the ball. UMBC took 73 shots but only made 23 of them. Of their 73 shots, 29 came from three-point range, where they only made six.

Kurowski continued her streak of dominating play with 14 points and 12 rebounds along with three steals and three assists. Meanwhile, junior guard Erin Brown led all scorers with 16 points while Meghan Colabella had 10 with eight rebounds.

Those three having big nights is nothing new for UMBC, but the rest of the team have not been giving the team enough points, despite the team winning their last three games heading into their game against Maine. With hopes of getting more points Phil Stern moved Michele Brokans to the bench (though she still played 36 minutes) and put three-point ace Chelsea Barker into the starting five. However, the rest of the team’s shots didn’t fall. While Colabella, Kurowski, and Brown combined for 16 successful field goals, the other six Retrievers made only seven baskets, combining for 17 points.