BALTIMORE, Md. (Dec. 20, 2018)-Playing for the first time at home since a loss to Central Connecticut on Nov. 26, the Lady Bears nearly overcame a 17-point deficit with a little over four minutes to play, but fell to rival the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), 73-68 on Thursday evening at Hill Field House.

UMBC (7-5) ended a season-long five-game losing skid with the victory and improved to 14-12 all-time against Morgan State. The Lady Bears (1-12) fell to 1-3 at home this season. 

Te'yJah Oliver scored a team-high 25 points and had six rebounds, while Kayla Jackson came off the bench to score 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds for the visiting Retrievers.

Morgan State was led by Adre'onia Coleman, who scored a game-high 26 points, while Jihayah Chavis scored 18 points and had a game-high three steals. Ashia McCalla fell short of a double-double with 10 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

The Lady Bears trailed 67-50 with 4:17 left in the game, following a layup by UMBC's Oliver. Morgan State would then score the next seven points in part of an 18-4 run to pull within 71-68 with 25.3 seconds remaining.

Morgan State would have two looks at tying or cutting into the lead, but a three-point attempt by Chavis would not fall and McCalla's put back layup would not drop either with under 10 seconds to play.

Oliver would knock down two free throws for the Retrievers to seal the game at 73-68. 

UMBC shot 46.9 percent (30-of-64) from the floor and held a 47-35 rebounding advantage over the Lady Bears.

Morgan State connected on 23-of-65 (35.4 percent) from the field and hit 16-of-24 (66.7 percent) from the free throw line. The Retrievers also shot 66.7 from the charity stripe, going 6-of-9.

The Lady Bears will be off until Saturday, Dec. 29 when they welcome UMass Lowell to Hill Field House. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.