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Post-game –

At some point in the second half, a track meet broke out on the campus of St. Joseph’s University and the Lady Hawks put on their running shoes.  The result was a second half thrashing of UMBC, as SJU put up 43 points in the final 20 minutes to easily put away the Retrievers, 77-55.

UMBC trailed by just three at the halfway point (34-31) but a cold shooting performance in the second half was countered by a high-powered St. Joseph’s offensive attack that featured both solid perimeter play and and strong effort under the basket.

The Retrievers didn’t have an answer for Mariame Djoura (18 points) Ashley Logue  (15) or Brittany Ford (15).  

For UMBC, they were led by Katie Brooks and Carlee Cassidy, each of whom finished with 12 points.

The Retrievers next play on Tuesday night, November 24 at Towson University.

In men’s play today, both Towson and UMBC were losers.  The Tigers fell at home in OT to Buffalo and the Retrievers were defeated handily by George Washington at The Smith Center in Washington DC.

3:36 pm –

This one’s over at Hagan Arena.  Well, there’s still 8 minutes to play, but St. Joseph’s is up by 22 on UMBC at 65-43.  

The Retrievers have gone completely cold in the 2nd half, scoring only 12 points up to this point after trailing at the half, 34-31.

St. Joseph’s has been sparked by the low post play of Ashley Logue (15 points) and the perimeter shooting of guard Brittany Ford (15).  

For UMBC, the high-scoring duo of Kurowski (5 points) and Cassidy (8) has been held to just 13 points combined.  UMBC won’t win ANY games this year where those two score less than 20 points together, that’s for sure. 

Katie Brooks (12) and Erin Brown (12) lead all UMBC scorers.

In men’s play today, Towson lost a tough one at home to Buffalo, 78-69 in overtime after Troy Franklin (17 pts) tied the game with a late 3-pointer.

At the Smith Center in Washington DC, UMBC is getting run out of the gym by George Washington, 83-44 with 7 minutes to play.  

3:20 pm –

And just like that, it’s getting away from UMBC as the Lady Hawks now lead 48-35.  A sloppy two minutes of play from UMBC led to a turnover, an easy hoop at the other end and a time-out from Phil Stern who looks angry for the first time all afternoon.

While no one player is to blame for the 13-point deficit, there’s little chance that UMBC can compete with Michelle Kurowski and Carlee Cassidy COMBINING for 7 points in the game’s first 27 minutes.  Those are Stern’s two best offensive players and neither has been able to get untracked today.

Katie Brooks leads UMBC with 12 points.

Have I mentioned she’s my favorite UMBC hoopster?

3:15 pm –

UMBC’s hanging tough in Philadelphia this afternoon, but it’s just too much Ashley Logue right now, as the St. Joseph’s center has 13 points and 13 rebounds to help the Lady Hawks to a 43-35 lead over the Retrievers with 16 minutes to play in the game. 

Katie Brooks (10) and Erin Brown (8) lead UMBC in scoring.

2:55 pm –

I’d call the first half “spirited” here on the campus of St. Joseph’s as the Lady Hawks lead UMBC, 34-31.

UMBC trailed by as many as nine late in the half but scored the last six points to pull within three.  Katie Brooks leads the Lady Retrievers with 10 first half points and 6 rebounds.  

Phil Stern has to be somewhat pleased with the first 20 minutes if for no other reason than his girls have a puncher’s chance in the second half and their leading scorer, Michelle Kurowski, scored just three points in the opening half. 

Also, UMBC’s Meghan Colabella picked up two fouls in the first six minutes and didn’t play at all after that.  

If Colabella and Kurowski come back in the second half and play up to their respective levels, UMBC might leave Philly with a win this afternoon.

2:25 pm –

St. Joseph’s is now up on the UMBC Lady Retrievers, 15-13 with 12 minutes to play in the first half.

UMBC’s leading scorer, Michelle Kurowski, has been limited to just one free throw so far.  

One of the coolest “college things” I’ve seen just took place during a time-out.  St. Joseph’s has this program called “Ball Handling Kids Club” where about 50 kids come to the game and all go out on the court during a time-out and dribble a basketball to music.  

That’s all there is to it.  

But it’s really neat to see 50 little kids (ages 3-8, maybe?) on the court with a “Hawks” T-Shirt dribbling a basketball around.

Back to the game.

2:11 pm –

UMBC off to a hot start here in Philly, racing out to an 8-3 lead behind two buckets each from Katie Brooks (my favorite player) and Meghan Colabella.

This is a neat atmosphere here…it’s cramped, with the seats right on top of the court.  The student section is loud.  

It’s fun.

2:00 pm –

Moments before tip-off here at Saint Joseph’s and there’s a GOOD crowd on hand for the 2pm game between UMBC and the Lady Hawks. 

They have the band working and a bunch of heckling students behind one of the baskets.  The band just belted out “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire — and it would have ONLY been better if Philip Bailey had been there to handle the vocals.  

They’re honoring “The Hawk” at midcourt right now.  I’ve never seen the mascot get honored before the game.  Weird.  

Should be a fun afternoon.

I’ll take UMBC in a thriller, 68-66. 

I’m not sure what the spread is…I think since I rode up with the team on the bus that I’m not actually allowed to mention “spread”…so I won’t. 

Pre-game:

As the UMBC women’s basketball team bus pulled into Philadelphia around 11:30 am today, I leaned over to Coach Phil Stern and said, “You realize the only way I’d ever come up to this stinkhole is to watch college basketball, right?”

And here I am, on the campus of Saint Joseph’s University to watch the Lady Retrievers (Stern says I’m not really supposed to call them that…but it’s the easiest way to refer to them) take on the Lady Hawks (turnabout…) in a non-conference game at the Hagan Arena. 

You can say I definitely love college basketball if I eschewed a beautiful late fall morning of golf with my buddies at Mountain Branch to board a bus for the most unfriendly city in America.  But I’m a fan of UMBC sports and Phil Stern is a regular visitor to WNST — and despite my dislike for “Philthy”, I always maintain that when it comes to college basketball, I’m insanely jealous of what they have up here…so I come here to be reminded of what I hope Baltimore someday becomes.

I must say, through gritted teeth, that this building is better than any college facility we have currently standing in Baltimore. 

Towson, UMBC, Loyola, Morgan State — they could ALL use a building this nice.  Of course, Coppin State is introducing their new arena in another month…let’s hope it’s reasonably close to as efficient and appealing as this building is at St. Joseph’s. 

It pains me greatly to see Philadelphia “one-up” anything we do in Baltimore, but this is a great venue for college hoops, both on the men’s and women’s side. 

Stern’s girls are 1-1 on the year, having scared 14th ranked Virginia in their opener on November 13 before falling by eleven points.  Two days later, they crushed UMES at the RAC.  Meanwhile, SJU is 0-2 on the year and picked to finish 9th in the Atlantic-10 conference.