UMBC is going dancing.
The University of Maryland-Baltimore County women?s basketball team capped an improbable postseason run and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history with a 48-46 victory over Hartford in the America East finals at the Binghamton University Events Center in Vestal, N.Y..
Freshman guard Carlee Cassidy scored 14 points, junior forward Amanda Robinson had 10 points and senior forward Sharri Rohde scored eight for the seventh-seeded UMBC.
“This is an unbelievable feeling,” UMBC coach Phil Stern said. “The seniors on this team have been through so much. This win was for them.”
Danielle Hood scored 17 and Diane Delva had 11 points and 16 rebounds for top-seeded Hartford, which won both games in the regular season against UMBC.
Leading by one at halftime, UMBC opened the second half with a 7-0 run to take a 32-24 lead with 17:06 remaining after a jumper from Rohde. Hartford cut the deficit to four points before UMBC went on a 10-2 run and led 42-30 after a layup from Hughes with 9:51 remaining.
The Hawks refused to go away as they went on a 16-6 run and trailed 48-46 following a jumper from Hood with 28 seconds remaining. Delvahad a chance to tie the game, but missed four straight free throws in the final 14 seconds.
“We knew they weren?t going away even when we were up 10,” Stern said. “We were just able to get a key rebound when we couldn?t score and got lucky Delva missed those free throws.”
Hartford scored the game?s first seven points and led 13-6 with 11:30 left in the first half after a jumper from the Hawks Lisa Etienne. UMBC then responded by outscoring Hartford 19-11 the rest of the first half and led 25-24 at the intermission.
UMBC reached the finals in improbable fashion first by beating second-seeded Stony Brook in the quarterfinals. The Retrievers then upset third-seeded, 67-56 Saturday in the conference semifinals before playing Hartford Sunday. UMBC went 1-5 against those teams in the regular season, with its only victory coming with an 80-72 win at Vermont on Feb. 20.
The Retrievers appearance in the America East finals marks the first time they have played in a conference championship game since the 2003 Northeast Conference finals, Stern?s first year at UMBC.
