FROSTBURG, Md. – Urbana held off Frostburg State for a 66-59 victory in a dreadful shooting night for both squads.
With the win, Urbana won its third straight and improved to 15-8 (11-6 MEC) to clinch its first winning season since the inaugural year of the MEC in 2013-14.
The Blue Knights also tied the program's Division II era mark for most road wins (8). UU will look to set a new single-season record on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Charleston.
League-leading scorer
Tyra James logged her 14th double-double with 19 points and 16 rebounds. James went just 5 of 17 from the field, but was perfect at the foul line by going 9 for 9. She also had four assists and three steals.
James is now 58 points shy of breaking the school's single-season scoring record with 525 points through 22 games.
Sylvia Hudson and
Bailey Draughn were the other two players to score double digits for Urbana with 14 points, apiece.
Kami McEldowney filled the stat sheet with seven points, five steals, three assists and three rebounds.
Weston Minnich chipped in with seven boards and two points while
Kasey Knippen had eight points with a pair of three's off the bench.
Hudson scored all 14 points over the final 12-plus minutes of the contest, including eight of the team's 14 points in the fourth quarter. She passed the 1,700 point mark for her career and with eight rebounds she became only the second player in school history to collect 800 career boards.
Hudson is now 72 points away from breaking the school career scoring record (1,775).
Urbana raced out to a 14-2 lead with seven points from James and eventually held an 18-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
The Blue Knights were in disarray in the second quarter as Frostburg trimmed the lead to four, 22-18, midway through the period. UU had eight turnovers and was outscored 14-13 after starting the quarter shooting 1 of 8 from the field.
Fortunately, the Bobcats had just as much trouble scoring in the second frame as the two sides combined to shoot 27 percent with Urbana holding on for a 31-25 edge at halftime. Both teams shot under 40 percent overall on the night.
Early in the third, James put Urbana ahead by 10 with a layup to make it 35-25. The Bobcats, led by point guard Victoria Diggs, would respond with a 14-4 run to tie the game 39-39 with 4:40. Diggs had nine points during the spurt.
However, Draughn immediately answered for the Blue Knights with a fastbreak layup. Urbana never trailed in the contest despite posting its lowest shooting percentage in 15 games (38.6).
Urbana would close the third on a 13-3 run, with six points coming from Hudson, as the Blue Knights built a 10-point lead going into the final period. Hudson was kept scoreless until the 2:24 mark of the third period, but much like she's done her entire career, she came up big when the Blue Knights needed it most.
Frostburg (4-19, 3-14 MEC) made one final run, this time with a 10-2 spurt as a pair of Diggs free throws sliced the Blue Knights' lead to two, 54-52, with under seven minutes remaining.
Then, the play on the court turned chaotic and disorganized as both teams struggled to score down the stretch.
UU shot 3 of 11 in the final period with its first made shot falling at the three-minute mark. It didn't matter though, as the Blue Knights prevented the Bobcats from scoring for over five minutes.
Urbana took advantage of its free-throw opportunities, going 8 of 10 from the line in the fourth quarter and 18 for 22 (81.8%) overall in the game. Frostburg made 17 of 24 (70.8) at the stripe.
The Blue Knights also outrebounded the Bobcats by a 46-34 margin.
Diggs led the hosts with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting with six boards, two assists and two steals. Kaitlyn Rogers scored 13 points with five steals and four rebounds while Amanda Emory had 12 points and five caroms.
Urbana swept the season series in the first pair of meetings ever against Frostburg State.
UP NEXT: UU hosts Fairmont State (11-12, 8-9 MEC) on Saturday afternoon in Grimes Center. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET against the Fighting Falcons, who have dropped four straight.
