The Binghamton University women’s basketball team has nothing to hang their heads over after Wednesday night’s overtime loss to Boston University.

It has been protocol this season that against the top teams on their schedule, the Bearcats play a close game throughout the first half before letting the game slip away in the second half.

This had to be expected with a new head coach, a new up-tempo style of play and the loss of four contributing seniors. It was frustrating nevertheless.

Wednesday’s game looked to be headed in the same direction after Boston University broke a 25-25 tie to pull ahead by eight points with just 42 seconds remaining in the first half.

But instead of backing down, the Bearcats went back on the attack. Sophomore Jackie Ward scored two layups in the last 15 seconds of the first half, the second layup being a cross-court buzzer beater which caught the Boston University defenders completely off guard.

That set the tone for a thrilling second half, in which the Bearcats and Terriers exchanged shot for shot all the way into overtime. Boston needed a freak technical foul from the Binghamton bench and an amazing individual effort by senior Amarachi Umez-Eronini to beat two Bearcats defenders and escape with the 76-75 victory.

So the question is, why does this matter? A loss is a loss.

Let’s start off by saying Boston is not your average team. They are undefeated in conference play and feature four senior starters, all of whom could and should find themselves on America East All-Conference teams at the end of the year.

Not to take away from the work of the Bearcats upperclassmen, Laura Franceski, Erica Carter, Darryll Peterson, Muffy Sadler and Theodora Panteli, all of whom have had excellent seasons of their own, but this year’s Binghamton team has been paced on the court by two freshmen, Andrea Holmes and Viive Rebane.

To quickly understand Holmes’ importance to the team, all one has to do is look at the box scores since Feb. 1. Andrea has missed a whopping eight minutes of game play this month.

Rebane has been the Bearcats’ most consistent frontcourt presence, leading the team in both rebounds and shooting percentage.

It’s no surprise that at the end of the game on Wednesday, Holmes and Rebane had the ball in their hands. Rebane hitting the runner to put the Bearcats into overtime, and Holmes shrugging off a 3-18 shooting performance going into the overtime period to hit back-to-back shots to tie the game. Add Ward’s shot-clock beating jumper in the final seconds, and all the points in overtime were scored by underclassmen.

It sounds cliche, but most championship-caliber teams have a defining moment that they can point to and say it all came together for them.

I am a student and a fan as much as I am a writer, so I may be a little biased, but I think Wednesday night was this Bearcat team’s defining moment. It may not happen this season, but a championship run is in the cards for this team.