In “A Tale of Two Cities,” Charles Dickens writes, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
For Binghamton University’s women’s basketball team, this statement rang true on Wednesday night, and all it took was seven seconds.
Binghamton (10-15, 5-7 America East) dropped a tough 76-75 decision in overtime to Boston (18-6, 12-0 AE). In overtime, the game reached its climax when, with the score tied at 73-73, Bearcat sophomore Jackie Ward knocked down a running jumper with seven seconds left in overtime to put the Bearcats up by two.
“We were running the play for Viive [Rebane],” Ward said. “She was doubled and I yelled for the ball. I got the ball and saw we were running out of clock, so I just shot it and it went in.”
After the play, a technical foul was assessed to Binghamton for bench personnel jumping onto the court. Terriers junior Aly Hinton split the resulting pair of free throws to cut Binghamton’s lead to 75-74. Senior Amarac Umez-Eronini then sank the game winning layup with 1.1 seconds remaining in the game.
“Christine [Kinneary] was supposed to take the ball to the hoop and kick it out to Kristi [Dini],” Umez-Eronini said. “But I got the ball and saw that there were only four seconds on the clock. I was open and took it to the basket.”
With her team trailing 33-27, Ward, who was a catalyst behind the Bearcats’ attack against Boston, took the ball the length of the court for a driving layup to close out the first half. The play ignited the Events Center crowd and pulled the Bearcats to within four points at halftime. Scholl was as impressed with Ward’s maneuver as the fans were.
“Players make coaches look good,” Scholl said.
In one of the keys to the game, the Terriers hounded Bearcat freshman Andrea Holmes with aggressive on-the-ball defense. Holmes contributed seven rebounds and seven assists, and scored on consecutive possessions late in overtime to tie the game at 73. However, she committed five turnovers in the face of Boston’s pressure and was just 5-20 from the field. Umez-Eronini, who had five steals along with her game-winning shot, guarded Holmes for most of the night and was responsible for keeping Binghamton’s leading scorer at 10.4 points per game in check.
“We want to pressure teams defensively, especially their point guards,” Umez-Eronini said. “We want to wear them down. [Holmes] plays a lot of minutes. Eventually we were able to get some pressure on her and wear her out.”
With Holmes struggling from the field, Binghamton’s other players kept them in the game. Erica Carter knocked down three 3-pointers in the second half. Darryll Peterson chipped in with 11 points, three steals and two blocks. Rebane had 12 points on 5-9 shooting from the field in 38 minutes, including a jumper with 28 seconds in regulation to tie the game at 67 and force overtime .
“Nobody came to pick me up so I just went to the basket and shot,” Rebane said.
In losing, the Bearcats dropped their third consecutive game and woke up Thursday morning tied for fourth in the America East. However, Scholl was encouraged by her team’s performance.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my players for the effort we put out there,” Scholl said.
Looking for its first win in nearly two weeks, Binghamton welcomes the Maine Black Bears to the Events Center tomorrow. Binghamton defeated Maine 62-49 earlier in the season and will look to sweep the season series.
Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.