UMBC

Brittnie Hughes has 12 assists in two games to start the season.

Baltimore, Md. – The UMBC Women’s Basketball team (1-1) is coming off a 59-55 win over Mount St. Mary’s and takes the show on the road Morgan State on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.  The Retrievers have won the last three contests against the Bears with the all-time series tied at 9-9.

RETRIEVER UPDATE:  Junior forward Matea Pender scored a game-high 20 points as the UMBC Women’s Basketball team (1-1) defeated Mount St. Mary’s, 59-55, in the Retriever Tip-Off Tournament on last Sunday afternoon at UMBC RAC Arena.  The Retrievers received 23 bench points, 13 from Kristin Drabyn as the rookie guard played 30 minutes, hitting 2-of-3 from outside the arc and recorded three steals as well.  Brittnie Hughes for the second consecutive game handed out six assists.  Hughes with 9.0 ppg, 6.0 apg and seven steals in the two games was named to the All-Tournament team. 

BEARS UPDATE: The Morgan State Bears fell in their season opener to Albany, 73-54 last Friday night.  The Bears held a 30-28 first half advantage on the Great Danes but 48.1 percent shooting from the floor in the second stanza allowed Albany to go on for the win.  The Bears received  13 points off the bench from Sharonda Waston.  Javone Davis scored 11 points.  Morgan State shot 35.3 percent from the floor going 18-of-51.   The Bears committed 27 turnovers and gave up 19 offensive rebounds.

Who’s Up Next:  The Retrievers return home to UMBC RAC Arena after Thanksgiving when they host Navy on Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.   

All-time Series vs. Morgan State

Last Meeting:    Nov. 26, 2002 (UMBC 57, Morgan State 34)

First Meeting:   Jan. 16, 1969 (UMBC 34, Morgan State 31)

Morgan State’s last win:            Dec. 21, 1991 (Morgan State 94, UMBC 90, OT)

Streak: UMBC has won the last three meetings

Series Record:  The Series is tied, 9-9 

Pender's 20-Point Night…Matea Pender returned to her old form as the junior forward scored a game-high 20 points against Mount St. Mary's in the Retrievers first win of the season.  Pender earned the starting nod in both of UMBC's games thus far as she is two years removed from her ACL injury.  Pender's 20-points marks the first time she has hit double-digits since prior to her injury.  Pender's 20-points is also UMBC's first 20-point scorer of the season as the Retrievers last year had just one 20-point individual performance with Courtney Doughman scoring 22 on Albany. 

Using The Bench…Head Coach Phil Stern has seen his bench log some quality minutes in the opening two games of the season.  Stern has used nine different players in each of the first two games as the Retriever bench scored 17 points against Coppin State and 23 against Mount St. Mary's.  UMBC's bench played 85 minutes of a total of 200 against the Mount and is averaging 35.1 percent of UMBC's total minutes.

Coming To Play…The UMBC freshman class has come to the play with two of UMBC's four double-digit scorers in the first two games coming from Retriever rookies.  Morgan Hatten dropped 11 points in her collegiate debut and Kristin Drabyn finished with 13 in her second game of the season.  Drabyn is averaging 10.0 ppg in two games played.  Fellow freshman Amanda Robinson has recorded four blocks, four steals and cleared eight boards in her two starts.  The Retriever freshman have combined for 37.1 percent of UMBC's total scoring and 32.7 percent of UMBC's total minutes played.

Hughes Named to All-Tournament Team…Sophomore Brittnie Hughes was named to the UMBC Retriever Tip-Off Tournament All-Tournament team after finishing the weekend with 9.0 ppg and 6.0 apg.  Hughes also swiped seven balls last week.  Hughes set a career-high for points in a game in the first half against Coppin State and went on to set her new mark at 12 points. 

Hughes Lending A Helping Hand…Brittnie Hughes, who saw action in 11 games last year, handed out six assists in each of UMBC's two games last weekend.  At least six assists was only reached on two occasions all of last year.

Getting Ahead Early...UMBC led at half 29-25 against Coppin State and 23-19 against Mount St. Mary's as the UMBC has been able to hold the scoring advantage heading into the break in both games this season.  Last season UMBC did not lead at half for the first nine games of the season and trailed in 24-of-28 games at halftime. 

Retrievers Showing Unselfish play…UMBC as a team has recorded 21 assists in each of their first two games, eclipsing their total amount of assists in any one game all of last year.  Leading the way is Brittnie Hughes with 12 assists on the season and Sharri Rohde with eight.  UMBC's school record for team assists in a game is 27.

I’ll Take That…The Retrievers defense has picked up the intensity which is showing in the box score.  UMBC recorded 12 steals in their first game of the season against Coppin State and 11 the next day against Mount St. Mary's.  UMBC only recorded double-digit steals as a team once last year.  Brittnie Hughes leads UMBC with seven steals and four by Morgan Hatten and Amanda Robinson.   

Robinson Throwing A Block Party...Freshman Amanda Robinson rejected four shots in two games last week including three against Mount St. Mary’s.  The Retrievers as a team have been sending shots back as UMBC has blocked seven shots in their first two games.  Heather Luttrell recorded her first block of her career while Matea Pender and Sharri Rohde also rejected shots.

Luttrell Clears Career-High On The Glass...Sophomore Heather Luttrell grabbed a career-high eight rebounds against Mount St. Mary’s.  Luttrell’s eight boards was a team-high for UMBC as the 5-11 forward held tough in the paint.  Luttrell, who played in 27 games last year, previous career high was five blocks.

Home Sweet Home...The Retrievers for the first time in their 36 seasons have 15 home games as UMBC welcomes six non-conference opponents and all-nine America East foes to RAC Arena in 2004-05.  The Retrievers best home mark was a 10-0 mark at RAC Arena in 1993-94.  UMBC's career home record is 185-143.

No Charity Allowed...Over the last two seasons Head Coach Phil Stern's squads ranked in the top-five in the country in fewest fouls per game.  Last year the Retrievers as a team finished second nationally at 13.3 fouls per game.  UMBC finished fifth in the nation two years ago in fouls per game at 13.5. 

Hitting The Airwaves…With the newly launched umbcretrievers.com, the majority of home games and a few road contests will be broadcast live on the internet through www.umbcretrievers.com. Play-by-Play announcer Troy Green will bring the action on all contests via the web.  Umbcretrievers.com will also broadcast live stats for all men's and women's basketball home games.  In addition UMBC will play a home televised contest as part of the America East Television package when UMBC hosts Hartford on Feb. 26 at 12 p.m. at UMBC RAC Arena.  Currently the game is set to air on Metro TV NY and Fox Sports New England. 

Retrievers on Air

UMBCretrievers.com Radio

Nov. 20        Coppin State             4:00

Nov. 21        Mount St. Mary’s      4:00

Dec. 7           Radford                     7:00

Dec. 11         American                   7:00          

Dec. 18         Drexel                       5:00

Dec. 28         at Towson                 7:00

Jan. 8            at Hartford                12:00

Jan 12           Boston U.                  7:00

Jan 15           Northeastern             7:00

Jan. 26          Maine                        7:00

Jan. 29          New Hampshire        7:00

Feb. 5           Stony Brook              7:00

Feb. 19         Albany                      7:00

Feb. 23         Vermont                    7:00

Feb. 26         Hartford                    12:00

Metro TV NY/Fox Sports Net

Feb. 26         Hartford                    12:00

Live Stats

All homes games and selected away contests.

Retrievers No Longer New Beast In The America East…The Retrievers are no longer the new kids on the block in the America East Conference as they open their second season in the mid-major conference.  Despite a full season in league play the Retrievers still received no love from their conference foes, being picked to finish 10th in the league for the second consecutive year.

Going Global…The Retrievers' 13-player roster contains three international players.  Senior Anastasia Goncharova is from Russia junior Matea Pender is a native of Croatia and freshman Zuzana Kasanová hails from the Slovak Republic.  In addition to players from the around the world, the majority of UMBC's squad is from outside the state lines.  Tyecia Powell (Baltimore, Md.), Amanda Robinson (Lusby, Md.) and Morgan Hatten (Potomac, Md.) are the Retrievers' women's hoops only Maryland natives.

Infirmary Report:  UMBC prior to the season lost freshman Zuzana Kasanová to an ACL tear to her knee.  UMBC will also be without Erin Voss for the first couple of weeks with an injury to her right hand.   

Retrievers Ink Three For 2005-06…UMBC head women's basketball coach Phil Stern announced the signings of three student-athletes to National Letters of Intent to attend UMBC for the 2005-06 academic year.  The list includes Melissa Book (Raleigh, N.C./Millbrook High School), Mackenzie Butler (Reno, Nev./Reno High School) and Suzanne Morris (Cleveland, Tenn./Walker Valley High School).