The Binghamton University women’s basketball team got off to a slow start in its home opener on Wednesday night at the Events Center and faltered down the stretch before falling to Cornell University, 60-56. The Bearcats were looking to capture their first win of the season after a tough loss at St. Bonaventure University to start the year.
The Bearcats (0-2) had trouble finding their rhythm early as Cornell (1-1) played at a fast pace, running the Bearcats up and down the court. Cornell junior point guard Shelby Lyman ran the offense fluently, dishing out five assists to a Cornell squad that shot 60 percent from beyond the 3-point line in the first half.
The Bearcats ran a zone defense in the first, leading to several mismatches, and oftentimes leaving a shooter wide open. On the other side of the ball, Cornell played a clean game, committing fewer personal fouls, as well as keeping the Bearcats from shooting anything outside of the paint.
Binghamton sophomore forward Sherae Swinson and junior guard Jasbriell Swain kept the Bearcat offense alive, scoring eight and six points, respectively, to keep BU within 10 at halftime.
“Coach let us know that we had only been to the free throw line once, and [Cornell] was shooting 60 percent from the three point line, so our key was to be more aggressive on the guards, and be more aggressive on our shots and get to the free throw line,” Swain said about the team’s halftime discussion.
At the start of the second period, it was evident that the Bearcats had realized their mistakes and changed both their offensive and defensive schemes. They began to take the ball down the court with speed and confidence and score points in the paint.
They gave up the zone and played a much tighter defense, limiting Cornell to only three 3-pointers in the second half. Swain led the team in its drive to take the lead, both rebounding the ball and bringing it down the court to score. With the defense more spread out, the Bearcats were able to play more aggressively, utilizing their frontcourt and scoring more high percentage shots.
While Binghamton only attempted two free throws in the first half, it took 22 shots from the charity stripe in the second and converted on its first 16 attempts. After being down 13 points with 15:25 left to play, BU finally went on a run of its own, outscoring Cornell 15-2 in a 6:36 stretch to tie the game at 49. From there, the Bearcats continued to feed off their building momentum and tallied the next five points to put them up 54-49 with 7:16 left.
But at the 3:06 mark, Big Red senior guard Taylor Flynn hit a 3-pointer. A simultaneous foul away from the ball drawn by Cornell senior forward Clare Fitzpatrick resulted in a five-point play, as the forward converted on both free throws to tie the game at 54. With the momentum shifted, Cornell scored the next five points and never looked back, finishing on top of the Bearcats, 60-56.
“[The loss] was unfortunate, and we kind of let the game slip away from us, but moving forward I think we can take a lot of good things away,” Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl said. “Our defense was spot on … and that really triggered our offense to make that big of a swing. So if we can start putting two halves together I think we’ll be right there.”
The Bearcats are scheduled to head to Austin Peay State University this Sunday to try to secure their first win of the season. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. at the Winfield Dunn Center.