ORONO, Maine — The University of Maryland Baltimore County was reeling going into Sunday’s America East women’s basketball game against UMaine.
The Retrievers were mired in a four-game losing skid and were 0-8 on the road this season.
UMBC halted both streaks Sunday afternoon. Carlee Cassidy scored 15 points in the last nine minutes, helping the Retrievers fetch a 77-74 victory over the Black Bears at Alfond Arena.
Cassidy, a shifty junior guard, went 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final 27.1 seconds as UMBC edged a gritty UMaine squad.
“We were a desperate team tonight,” admitted UMBC coach Phil Stern. “We needed to win tonight to stay up in that 4-5 area within the conference [standings].
“This is our first win here [in four tries]. We’re excited.”
Coach Cindy Blodgett’s Bears (3-21, 1-10 AE) played well offensively, but ultimately were unable to hold the offensive-minded Retrievers (13-11, 5-6 AE) in check.
“It’s hard because they’re all shooters,” said UMaine junior guard Amanda Tewksbury. “The second you go to help someone else, they’re going to kick it out and have a good shot, so you have to really focus on your man.”
UMBC came out clicking, making nine of its first 12 shots on the way to a 20-11 lead. The Retrievers never led by more than 10, but the Bears were in catch-up mode most of the way.
Kristin Baker of Bingham drained two 3-pointers to spark a 14-4 surge that gave UMaine a 57-53 lead with 9:14 remaining. However, UMBC spread the floor effectively and attacked the basket off the dribble, gaining either high-percentage shots or getting to the foul line.
Cassidy, who scored 19 of her game-high 22 points in the second half, helped UMBC secure the victory in the late going.
“It’s hard to hold Carlee down for 40 minutes,” Stern said. “She didn’t have a great game tonight, but she made shots when it counted and made some free throws when it counted.”
UMaine battled hard and led for the last time (67-66) on Brittany Boser’s transition layup off a Baker feed with 4:24 to play. UMBC answered with a key 5-0 flurry that included a driving layup by Michelle Kurowski, a Cassidy foul shot and Meghan Colabella’s jumper from the lane and pushed the lead to four points with 2:15 left.
The Bears were not able to equalize and Baker’s running 3-point attempt missed everything as time expired.
“Definitely our energy and our spirits were up from the win versus UNH and we can’t let this loss set us back,” said Boser, who logged her first double-double of the season with 21 points and 12 rebounds. “We need to keep coming out strong, keep coming out confident that we can win.”
Baker contributed 11 points, nine assists and five rebounds for the Bears, while Tanna Ross of Newburgh added 10 points and five rebounds and Colleen Kilmurray chipped in with nine points and 10 rebounds.
UMaine outrebounded UMBC 52-37, but committed 19 turnovers (leading to 21 Retriever points) compared to eight for the visitors.
“The effort was outstanding, 18 offensive boards,” Blodgett offered. “We got to the free-throw line, which is something we really pushed them about. Tonight we missed 12 free throws. That’s not typical of our team.”
The Bears went 21-for-33 from the line, while UMBC was 17-for-28.
Katie Brooks tossed in 21 points, 16 in the first half, for the Retrievers. Erin Brown posted 16 points for UMC, which shot 18 percent (4-for-22) from 3-point range.
UMaine entertains Albany on Wednesday at 7 p.m.