LOWELL, Mass. – Fresh off a first conference win, the UMass Lowell women's basketball team (1-13, 1-1 AE) will hit the road for the first two away league games of the season. The River Hawks will visit the NJIT Highlanders (8-6, 0-1 AE) on Thursday morning before heading to Maryland to take on the UMBC Retrievers (6-8, 2-0 AE) for a Saturday afternoon matchup.
 
January 11 at NJIT (ESPN+ - 11:00 a.m.)
 
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January 13 at UMBC (ESPN+ - 1:00 p.m.)
 
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LOOKING AT UMASS LOWELL
The River Hawks hit the road for their first two conference roads games this week. UMass Lowell will visit NJIT on Thursday morning before an afternoon matchup with UMBC on Saturday. The River Hawks earned their first win of the season with a dominant 70-53 victory over New Hampshire last Saturday. Four players scored double figures, led by 18 points from Mili Carrera. UMass Lowell scored a season-high 70 points in the win and will look to carry the momentum into two tough road contests.
 
SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
NJIT has played just one conference game so far this season, falling to UAlbany 77-36 in their league opener. Alejandra Zuniga leads the team averaging 14.7 points a game and has dished out a team-high 32 assists. Madilyn Dogs is the team's best rebounder, grabbing 6.5 per game and 85 total boards on the year. Trinity Williams leads the league with 22 blocks on the year, averaging 1.7 per game. As a unit, the Highlanders are atop the league in blocks and 3FG defense while sitting second in opponent FG percentage and combined team rebounds.
 
SCOUTING THE RETRIEVERS
UMBC is currently on a four-game win streak, including wins in back-to-back road conference games against Binghamton and Bryant. The Retrievers host Vermont on Thursday before taking on the River Hawks on Saturday afternoon. Anna Blount leads the team averaging 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game through 14 contests this season. Trinity Palacio has a team-high 32 assists and Jordon Lewis has a team-high 14 made 3FGs. As a unit, UMBC is third in team 3-point FG percentage and 3-point FG defense, but also have 275 turnovers, more than any other team in the conference.
 
BALANCED SCORING
The River Hawks found a balanced offense last time out against New Hampshire with four players hitting double figures. Mili Carrera tallied 18, Maddie Rice scored 14, Rayne Durant had 12 and Abbey Lindsey added 10 to lift UMass Lowell to victory. UMass Lowell has seen the most success when multiple players find an offensive rhythm and will look to keep the hands hot in the first league road trip of the year.
 
A WIN WOULD
A win would be a second straight in conference play and would snap a five-game losing streak to the Highlanders. A win over UMBC would be a second straight and fifth out of the last six meetings.
 
LEADING THE FLOCK
Mili Carrera leads the squad averaging 9.9 points per game while Sydney Watkins leads the rebounding unit with 6.1 per game. Rayne Durant is the team's leading blocker with 10 on the season. Mili Carrera and Leilani Rodriguez are both shooting better than 34% from three and Cire Worley leads the team with 12 of 14 made free throws. Watkins leads the team with 47 steals and 45 assists through 14 games, leading the league in steals and sitting sixth in assists.