Women’s Basketball Heads to Morgan State on Saturday Afternoon

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BALTIMORE – UMBC women’s basketball makes the short trip to Morgan State on Saturday afternoon for the Charm City Hoops Classic at 2 p.m. inside Hill Field House. The Retrievers enter the game fresh off a 20-point victory over Presbyterian at the FIU Thanksgiving Classic, snapping a four-game skid. 

Saturday’s matchup is the 30th all-time meeting between the programs with UMBC holding a 16-13 advantage. The Retrievers have won three out of four in the series. In last season’s meeting, UMBC earned an 81-72 victory inside Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena. Six Retrievers scored in double figures, led by Jordon Lewis with 19. Returners Carmen Yánez (14) and Tiara Bellamy (10) joined Lewis. Yanez knocked down two threes, and Bellamy made six free throws and grabbed four rebounds.

LAST TIME OUT

• Rolling out a new starting five — Jade Tillman, Heidi Williams, Kennedy Austin, Alaina Williams, and Gabby Scott — the Retrievers scored 25 first-quarter points on their way to a 68-48 victory over the Presbyterian Blue Hose in the FIU Thanksgiving Classic Consolation Game. Tillman scored 12 points and grabbed seven boards to pace UMBC. She was joined by H. Williams, Maisie Crowley, and Lauren Thompson in double figures, with all three players scoring 10 points. 
• Kennedy Austin added nine points, three steals, two rebounds, and two assists, securing a spot on the All-Tournament team after a 24-point, seven-rebound showing at FIU two days prior. The Retrievers led the contest wire-to-wire, taking the lead 22 seconds in and holding it for the entirety of the contest. UMBC held Presbyterian to less than 10 points in two separate quarters, holding the Blue Hose to six points in the second and nine in the fourth. 
• Morgan State most recently hit the road to Ohio, falling 79-66 to Toledo. The Lady Bears were paced by Ja’la Bannerman who finished with a team-best 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Kailyn Nash came off the bench to score 13 points and Gabrielle Johnson tallied 11 points. Johnson would knock down all seven of her free throw attempts, as the Lady Bears shot 81.8 percent (18-of-22) from the charity line. Jael Butler hauled in a team-high six rebounds and led the team with two steals to go with eight points.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK ROUND TWO

• After going five years without an America East Rookie of the Week, UMBC has had two players earn the honor thus far in 2025.
• Most recently, Kennedy Austin was named America East’s Rookie of the Week after averaging 16.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.5 steals per game at the FIU Thanksgiving Classic. She was named to the All-Tournament Team. She set a new career-high with 24 points and seven rebounds on Friday at FIU in just 21 minutes. 
• Heidi Williams became UMBC’s first America East Weekly Award winner for the 2025-26 season after an impressive week for the Dawgs. Williams averaged 10.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game. Williams is the first Retriever to be named Rookie of the Week since Lyric Swann in January, 2020. In Thursday’s historic victory over Virginia,  Williams scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds in 20 minutes. She also hit four free throws in the final six seconds of the game to ice away the victory for UMBC. Williams made seven of eight free throws in the game. She added six points, six rebounds, and three blocks on Sunday afternoon in a 56-54 loss to Brown. 

SCOUTING THE BEARS

• Morgan State has been outscored by an average of 26.7 points per contest in 2025-26, with the Bears allowing opponents to shoot 44.3 percent from the field. 
• The Bears have losses to Virginia, Stetson, Mount St. Mary’s, Hopkins, George Washington, Wake Forest, Rice, #16 Kentucky, and Toledo, as they have played an extremely challenging schedule in non-conference play. 
• Bannerman leads the Bears at 10.6 points per game with Johnson right behind her at 9.0. Maya Woodson averages 6.3 rebounds per contest for Morgan State. Mihjae Hayes (7-14, 50%) and Selina Gutierrez (9-20, 45%) have shot it well from distance for the Bears. 
• Morgan State was picked to finish fifth in the MEAC’s eight-team preseason poll with four different programs receiving first-place votes. The Bears’ Ja’la Bannerman was named to the Preseason All-MEAC First Team. Jael Butler and Gabrielle Johnson were named to the third team.
• In her sixth season as a head coach and first at Morgan State, Nadine Domond leads the Bears after a highly successful stint at Virginia State where she led the Lady Trojans to their first ever Division II Tournament appearance. Domond was named CIAA Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year and HBCU All-Stars Lonnie Bartley NCAA Division II National Coach of the Year while at VSU. As a player, Domond was a Second Team All-Big Ten selection at Iowa and a USA National Team Silver Medalist in 1997. She was also the 19th pick in the 1998 WNBA Draft. 

SCOUTING THE DAWGS

• After playing the first five games of the season with the same starting five, Candice Hill has made some adjustments, starting two new lineup combinations in the last three games. Nine different Retrievers have entered the starting lineup this season. 
• Kennedy Austin leads the way for UMBC, scoring 12.6 points per game for the season with an uptick to 15.0 points per game over the last five contests. As a freshman, Austin has shown an uncanny ability to get into the lane and draw contact, taking six or more free throws in six of her first eight games at the collegiate level. 
• Scoring in double figures in 50 percent of the team’s games this season, Jade Tillman, the team’s second-leading scorer at 10.9 per game, returned to the starting lineup on Sunday. Tillman is averaging 9.5 points and eight rebounds per game over her past four contests, grabbing 10 and 12 rebounds in back-to-back games vs. Towson and FIU.
• The UMBC bench has provided a great boost to start the season, ranking 50th nationally in bench points at 28.3 per game. The Retrievers have scored more than 40 points off the bench twice; 42 vs. Stevenson, and 41 at Brown. UMBC has scored at least 16 bench points in every game this season. 
• UMBC has been stellar at the charity stripe to start the season, knocking down shots at a 75.2 percent clip. The Dawgs have two games this season in which they’ve been perfect from the line, includinga15-15 performance vs. Brown. They rank 56th in the country and second in the America East.
• The Retrievers have done a strong job of making life difficult for opponents, forcing 21.13 turnovers per game and coming away with 10.4 steals per contest. UMBC ranks 55th and 84th in the country in the respective stats. 
• Getting to the free-throw line at will, Austin ranks 19th in Division I in free throws made with 42. She ranks 22nd in Division I in free throws attempted.
• The most experienced Retriever, Carmen Yanez sits six assists away from 200 for her career. She is off to a strong start in 2025-26, handing out 4.4 assists per game. Along with needing six assists to reach 200. She needs 19 more assists to etch her name into the UMBC record book as an addition to the list of all-time assist leaders. 

NOTHING BUT NET

• As of Thursday, Dec. 4, UMBC ranks 187th in the NCAA’s most recent NET rankings. In the NET era, UMBC had never reached higher than 269 in the rankings. So far this season, the NET rankings have been released four times with UMBC ranking 200th, 200th, 198th, and 187th. 
• UMBC is 1-1 in Quadrant 1 with a win over Virginia and a loss to Maryland. The Retrievers have yet to play a Quadrant 2 or 3 game.
• Morgan State ranks 360th in the most recent NET rankings with an 0-2 record against Quadrant 1. 
• Other rankings for the Dawgs include; Massey – 292, KPI – 228, Her Hoops – 234

HISTORY MADE

• Last Thursday’s victory on the road at Virginia was a historic one for the Retrievers. UMBC never trailed, allowing Virginia to tie the contest once in the fourth before fighting off the Cavalier rally for a 61-56 victory. 
• The win on Thursday was the first Power 4 (ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big 12) victory in UMBC program history, snapping a streak of 38 straight losses against such programs. UMBC was previously 0-4 all-time against Virginia and 0-15 against the ACC. 
• The 64 percent UMBC shot from three in the win proved to be its best showing from distance since shooting 66.7 percent from deep at George Mason in December 2024. 
• Candice Hill’s program shocked the Cavaliers from the jump, building an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes of the contest. The lead grew to 14 midway through the second quarter as Yánez drilled a three to make it 33-19 Retrievers. UMBC took an eight-point lead into the break and led by 12 at the 7:40 mark of the third as Williams connected from deep, but UVA was able to trim the deficit to one with 37 ticks left on the third quarter clock. Kennedy Austin found Scott open for three with 11 seconds remaining in the third to put the Retrievers up by four entering the final quarter of play. Virginia tied the game at 54 with 3:13 to play, but the Cavaliers never took the lead as the Retrievers held on to win on the road. Tiara Bellamy went baseline, converting a reverse layup with 28 seconds left to put UMBC up by three. Virginia once again pulled within one, but Williams made four free throws in the final six seconds to ice the game.

GETTING TO KNOW THE DAWGS

• Hill’s program features five returners and eight newcomers in 2025-26. Carmen Yánez is the lone returning starter for UMBC, while fellow captain Tiara Bellamy is expected to fill a larger role. Also back are junior Alaina Williams, and sophomores Lauren Thompson and Kenya Ramsey. 
• UMBC’s eight newcomers are split between four transfers and four freshmen. 
• The 2025-26 Retrievers represent three countries and six states.
  • Maryland (5) -> Austin, Scott, Tillman, H. Williams, Yarborough
  • New Jersey (2) -> Bellamy, Slomack
  • Connecticut (1) -> Thompson
  • Florida (1) -> A. Williams
  • Virginia (1) -> Ramsey
  • West Virginia (1) -> Jones
  • Spain (1) -> Yánez
  • England (1) -> Crowley
• Yánez, Bellamy, and Yarborough will captain the program in 2025-26. Yánez started 28 games last season and handed out five or more assists in seven different games. Bellamy averaged just under four points per game off the bench in year one as a Retriever after transferring from Saint Peter’s. Yarborough, the veteran transfer from NC A&T, posted five games with at least five rebounds and put forth her best performance of the season (9 pts, 6 reb) against her former school, Stony Brook. 

2024-25 IN REWIND

• The 2024-25 Retrievers posted a record of 14-15 in year one under Candice Hill, matching the 2022-23 record for the most wins since 2016-17 for UMBC women’s hoops. 
• UMBC reached the America East Conference Tournament as the #7 seed before falling to #2 Vermont, 70-39. The Retrievers held a two-point lead after the opening 10 minutes before the Catamounts pulled away.
• The name of the game for the Retrievers in 2024-25 was defense as UMBC ranked in the top-65 in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 59.1 points per game. The Retrievers defended the three-point line extremely well, finishing the season 37th in Division I and second in the America East as teams shot just 28.1 percent from deep. 
• UMBC was also stellar at the charity stripe last season, knocking down its free throws at a 74.7 percent clip, ranking in the top-80 in Division I and recording the third-best mark in program history. 
• Under Hill’s guidance, the Retrievers improved offensively from behind the three-point line (29.5% -> 30.4 %) and the free-throw line (67.8% -> 74.7%). The Retrievers also handed out 10.4 assists per game compared to 9.9 the season prior and turned the ball over 1.3 fewer times per game in 2024-25.

AMERICA EAST PRESEASON POLL
1. Vermont 63 (7)
2. Maine 55 (2)
3. Bryant 46
4. UAlbany 42
5. NJIT 37
6. Binghamton 26
7. New Hampshire 24
8. UMBC 23
9. UMass Lowell 8

WHAT’S NEXT

• The Retrievers continue a stretch of local matchups, welcoming Loyola (Md.) to the ‘Peake at 8 p.m. on Tuesday as part of a Black Out doubleheader with men’s basketball. The first 500 fans in attendance for each game will receive a Black Out t-shirt.