UMBC

Michelle Kurowski matched her career high with 30 points against Binghamton.

BALTIMORE—Junior guard Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, Md./Hicksville) matched her career high with 30 points and the UMBC women’s basketball team (8-8, 2-1 AE) cruised to a 55-38 victory over America East rival Binghamton (9-7, 2-1 AE) Wednesday evening at the RAC Arena. The Retrievers, who were playing at home for the first time in two weeks and just the second time since Dec. 7, have now won seven of their last 10 games.

UMBC’s America East Player of the Game, Kurowski made a career-best 12 of 19 attempts, including three of seven from 3-point range. She last scored 30 points on Dec. 5, 2008, against Navy, and she moved into 14th place on UMBC’s all-time scoring list with 1,044 career points. She is the first Retriever to score 30 points in a game since Carlee Cassidy tallied 33 on Jan. 28, 2009, at Boston University, and she is the second player in the America East to do so this season, joining the Terriers’ Alex Young, who scored 30 against Boston College in the season opener.

Kurowski made her first six shots and scored 13 straight points for the Retrievers, who took a commanding 20-8 lead midway through the first half. Binghamton made just four of its first 14 shots and committed nine turnovers in the first 12 minutes of the game.

UMBC led, 29-16, at halftime, and Kurowski had 16 points in the opening period.

The Bearcats scored the first five points of the second half in less than a minute of action to whittle their deficit to eight points, 29-21, before Kurowski sparked a 7-0 Retriever run that put UMBC up by 15.

Binghamton scored eight of the game’s next 10 puts to again cut it to single digits, 38-29, with 11:40 remaining, but a 3-pointer by Kurowski made it a 12-point contest, and the Bearcats would get no closer, as UMBC held Binghamton scoreless for nearly five minutes while taking an 18-point lead.

Senior forward Meghan Colabella (Upper Montclair, N.J./Montclair) pulled down a team-best eight rebounds and surpassed 500 for her career. She is the 14th Retriever ever to reach that mark and the first to do so since Sharri Rohde in 2006.

In addition, senior guard Michele Brokans (Lansdale, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) dished out a game-high seven assists and surpassed 300 for her career. She is the ninth Retriever ever to reach that mark and the first to do so since Rohde in 2007.

The Bearcats were led by guard Andrea Holmes, who tallied 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists to earn Player of the Game honors for her team.

The Retrievers shot 44.2 percent in the game while holding Binghamton to just 29.4 percent from the floor, the third time this season UMBC has held its opponent to under 30 percent shooting. In addition, it was the first time the Retrievers have allowed less than 40 points in a game since Feb. 1, 2006, also against Binghamton.

The Retrievers return to action on Saturday, Jan. 15, when they host America East rival Vermont at 1 p.m. at the RAC Arena.