In her first season at UMBC, junior guard Capree Garner is already a leader for the women’s basketball team.
Garner spent two years at Harford Community College, where she was a finalist for Community College Player of the Year, before transferring to UMBC. She started off strong for the Retrievers by leading the team with 16 points in her debut game against Eastern University. Since then, she has averaged 18.4 points per game, which also leads the team.
Garner led the team in points in every game this conference season, including 28 points against the University at Albany. Not only has Garner been scoring points, but she has also helped the Retrievers with rebounds and steals. In UMBC’s sole conference win this season, Garner recorded five steals as well as seven rebounds to go along with her 21 points. Each of those were team highs in UMBC’s 68–61 win over the University of Vermont.
Coming out of Springbrook high school, the Silver Spring native scored over 1000 points and was team MVP twice during her four years. Garner dominated at Harford Community College as well, as she scored 22.5 points per game in her first year out of high school. In her final year at Harford, she led the country with 28.1 points per game.
After four years of high school ball and two years at Harford, Garner made the leap to division one basketball. The addition of Garner and other key players has helped the Retrievers improve their win total from last year with still nine games to play.
After a 14 point loss to the University of Maine, the Retrievers will go back on the road for one game at the University of Binghamton. Afterwards, they will come home for two important conference games against the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the University of New Hampshire. Every game matters towards seeding in the conference tournament, and Garner will look to continue her leader of her squad.