Henry Scores 25 to Lead UAlbany to an 87-33 Defeat of UMBC in America East Conference Opener

BALTIMORE, MD.  -- Ebone Henry scored a game-high 25 points to lead UAlbany to an 87-33 win over UMBC in the America East Conference women's basketball opener at the RAC Arena on Wednesday evening. The Great Danes improve to 10-3 overall, and stand at 1-0 in league play, while the Retrievers fall to 4-10 and 0-1.

UAlbany completely controlled the first half, as Sarah Royals scored the first points of the game and the Great Danes never looked back. UAlbany went on a 16-2 run which was eventually ended by a Brittany Crowell 3-pointer at 7:47, but the Great Danes continued to hold a 23-9 lead. UAlbany shot a blistering 51.6 percent (16-31) from the field in the half, led by Henry, who scored 13 points in the first 20 minutes of action on 6-of-8 shooting.  The Great Danes held UMBC to just 26.9 percent shooting (7-26) and outrebounded the Retrievers, 29-7, in the half.

UMBC came out of the halftime break firing, and outscored UAlbany, 6-2, while also drawing five fouls from the Great Danes over the first four minutes of action. However, UAlbany hit her second 3-pointer of the night at 14:13 and then nailed two free throws after a UMBC technical foul to cap off an 8-0 run and push the Great Dane lead to 49-21 with 13:55 left to play.

The Great Danes extended the run to 29 unanswered points before UMBC got on the scoreboard again on a two free throws by Raven Harris with 7:07 left to play. The Great Danes continued to roll throughout the remainder of the half, finishing the game with a 54.8 shooting percentage (34-62) for the game.  UAlbany outrebounded the 55-19 and finished with 12 steals.

Julie Forster, who finished with nine rebounds in the game, became the first player in program history to record 1,000 career boards, and now has 1,008. Craig added 18 points, while Shereesha Richards finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Lowrie was the fourth player for the Great Danes in double-digit scoring with 12 points.

"This was another great team effort," said UAlbany head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, whose team has now won eight of its last nine games. "Ebone was really aggressive on offense and defense, and Megan dominated in the second half. We stayed focused on the game plan."

UAlbany will return to action on Saturday, continuing America East Conference play and wrapping up an eight-game road stretch, visiting Binghamton at 2 p.m.