“Kristin Drabyn is the definition of a gym rat,” Stern said. “She spends more hours a week shooting in the gym than practically any player I?ve ever coached. She also has all of the traits a coach wants to see in a player.”

The 5-foot-7 Drabyn won the America East Conference Sportsmanship Award which is given to an athlete in the league that displays a positive attitude on and off the court. It came as no surprise, as she uses her free time tutoring her teammates, is president of UMBC?s Student-Athlete AdvisoryCouncil and spent her spring break two years ago in New Orleans volunteering to help cleanup the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

But Drabyn?s life centers on basketball. Her father, Steve, is the girls? basketball coach at Avon (Ind.) High School, which she attended. Her brother, Steve, played at Belmont, where he graduated as the school?s all-time leader in free-throw percentage (92 percent).

Draybn said the only aspect that made the team?s upset of two-time defending America East champion Hartford in the conference tournament finals sweeter was her family watching the Retrievers? biggest win in school history from the stands.

“My brother never got to play in the NCAA tournament,” Drabyn said, “so I kind of felt like that us winning last year was for both of us.

But Drabyn said a repeat of last year?s memorable run will not be easy. Drabyn, who is a co-captain along with Morgan Hatten, will be in charge of leading a squad that is counting on six new players to fill the void left by the departure of the team?s top three scorers. The team will take its first step in defending its title when it opens the season hosting No. 13 George Washington in a non-conference game at RAC Arena on Nov. 9.

“Every year every team loses players and the players coming back have to find different roles,” Drabyn said. “It?s up to the players coming back and the new ones coming in to pick up the slack from the players who are no longer on the team.”

RETRIEVERS AT A GLANCE

» Coach: Phil Stern (Sixth season 57-90; 151-162 overall)

» Last Year: 16-17 overall, 6-10 America East. Beat Hartford in conference tournament finals. Lost to Connecticut, 82-33, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

» Returning players: G Kristin Drabyn, 5-7, 9.6 ppg, 2 rpg, 90.2 free-throw percentage; G Morgan Hatten, 5-10, 4.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.2 apg; G Melissa Book, 5-7, 0.7 ppg, 0.8 rpg; C Mackenzie Butler, 6-2, 1.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.6 apg; G Carlee Cassidy, 5-9, 4.5 ppg, 1.3 rpg.

» Top Newcomer: G Chantay Frazier, The 5-foot-8 junior averaged 12.2 points, 6.2 rebounds to go along with 44 steals and 112 assists at Seminole State College in Oklahoma.

» Big Game: Feb. 5 at Hartford. This is the first meeting between the two schools since UMBC upset Hartford, 48-46, in the title game of the America East tournament. The Retrievers lost both regular-season contests to the Hawks, 58-45, on Jan. 17 and 60-56 on March 3.

» Key to the Season: UMBC needs to establish an inside presence to open the perimeter for leading returning scorers Drabyn and Hatten, who averaged 9.6 and 4.7 points per game last season. The Retrievers also have to fill the void left by the loss of their two top post players ? Shari Rohde and Amanda Robinson ? from last season, as they averaged nearly 25 points and 12 rebounds combined.

» Tickets: $8 adults, $6 children. For information call (410) 455-2205

» Key number: 60.8. Average points allowed by UMBC during the 2006-07 season, which ranked third in the America East Conference.

?Ron Snyder