Whitman Alum Brown Making Up for Lost Time

Erin Brown seemingly couldn’t miss.

Whether she was spotting up, pulling up in transition, fading away or just merely laying the ball up, the UMBC junior and former Whitman standout was simply on fire during the Retrievers’ 60-57 win against Loyola on Dec. 29.

Brown, who had spent much of the eight months leading up to that point trying to regain her form after off-season ankle surgery, had finally done just that. The 5-foot-10 forward scored all of her 16 points during the first half, connecting on six of her first eight shot attempts, including four 3-pointers.

“She had like all of our first half points,” fellow UMBC junior Michelle Kurowski remembered. “She just could not miss. She was hitting everything. And from that point on, we knew that she was going to have an amazing season.”

Kurowski was right.

Brown leads UMBC in rebounding (5.8 per game) and is second on the team in scoring (13.3 points per game). A deadly outside shooter, she also ranks third in the America East Conference in three-pointers made (2.0 per game).

Brown has racked up double-digit points in 19 of the Retrievers’ 24 games, including 18 or more in three of the last four. She tallied a career-high 26 points while also pulling down a career-high 11 rebounds in Saturday’s 56-49 win against Maine.

Brown, limited by a cyst in her ankle for much of her sophomore season after an impressive freshman campaign, had surgery in April and wasn’t allowed to begin running until August.

But while Brown admits she got frustrated at times, she stayed diligent with her physical therapy, worked hard to re-strengthen her ankle and stayed confident throughout the process that she’d eventually be able to return to form.

Brown led Whitman in scoring during both her junior and senior seasons and recorded more than 1,000 points during her high school career. The Vikings were 50 games above .500 during her career and won a regional championship in 2006-07.

She averaged 9.2 points per game as a freshman at UMBC while starting 27 games, but averaged only 6.2 points per game last year and started just five games while battling the ankle injury.

“She’s turned into one of the better scorers in the America East [Conference],” Retrievers coach Phil Stern said. “She can knock down a three-pointer and she can also post you up. She’s very versatile and is a difficult guard for most teams. … But I’m not surprised at all."

Yet as nice as the individual accolades are, Brown is much more focused on the team’s success. UMBC (14-10 overall, 8-3 America East) has won 13 of its last 18 games, including five of its last six, after starting the year 1-5. Brown is confident that the Retrievers can make a legitimate run at the America East Championship.

The America East tournament begins March 6.

Along with Brown, Kurowski (15.8 points per game) and 6-foot-3 center Tope Obajolu (10.7) are also averaging double-digit points per game.

“It’s been an extremely exciting year,” Brown said. “I try to be as consistent as I can be on the court. But if I’m having an off night, it’s so exciting to watch all the different threats that we have.

"My ultimate goal is to win an America East Championship," Brown said. "And I think we have so many different options and have so many different ways that we can win a game."