The Binghamton women’s basketball team fell to the Maine Black Bears, 52-38, in an America East Conference game on Saturday that was all but decided from the opening tip.
Saturday’s game doubled as Binghamton’s (9-12, 4-4 AE) Play 4Kay Event, which raised money and awareness for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund. The fund is named after former North Carolina women’s basketball coach Kay Yow, who lost her battle to breast cancer in 2009. Before the contest began, both teams took time to participate in an opening ceremony which honored breast cancer survivors, including Binghamton head coach Linda Cimino’s mother, who has beaten the disease twice. Binghamton players escorted the breast cancer survivors to center court before Cimino presented each with a pink rose.
Maine (16-7, 7-1 AE), which currently holds its opponents to a conference-best 51.3 points per contest, showcased its defense by allowing the Bearcats to score only four points in the first quarter. The game seemed to hit rock bottom for Binghamton when Maine went up, 21-4, early in the second quarter. But a 12-0 run brought the Bearcats back to life late in the second period.
Unfortunately for the Bearcats, they could not sustain the burst and ended the half trailing, 26-18. The Bearcats were only down eight despite the lack of production from two of their most legitimate offensive threats, sophomore forward Alyssa James and sophomore guard Imani Watkins. After going down 17 in the beginning of a game against a team at the top of the conference standings, the Bearcats battled back.
“Our kids fought hard but, unfortunately, we started the game off slow and we came out of halftime slow,” Binghamton head coach Linda Cimino said. “Two of those quarters got away from us.”
As the game wore on, it became increasingly evident that James’ and Watkins’ struggles to score were not limited to the first half. Maine’s defense remained as tight and organized as it was in the opening quarters. James was unable to put the ball on the floor without getting swarmed and Watkins was not given any space to penetrate.
“We weren’t crashing on offense enough,” Watkins said. “We had one person crashing and four getting back.”
There is no more telling stat for the Bearcats than the 20 turnovers that they recorded. From errant passes on fast breaks to forcing the ball into the post to solid defensive plays from Maine, Binghamton simply turned to ball over far too much. Giving up potential shots in a game and shooting just 31.7 percent from the field isn’t a recipe for success.
“I think you have to credit Maine’s defense for our turnovers,” Cimino said. “We haven’t been turning the ball over a lot in games and today you saw what happens when you turn the ball over 20 times.”
With all of that said, Binghamton faced a solid opponent and was not blown out by any means. The Bearcats kept their energy up until the final whistle, which is certainly a positive to pull away from a game that didn’t go Binghamton’s way. If the Bearcats can get going early and protect the ball, they have shown that they can compete with every team in the America East.
Binghamton is set to start the second half of conference play on Wednesday when the Bearcats will host Stony Brook. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Vestal, New York.