Thanksgiving gave people a lot to be thankful for.
For the Binghamton University women’s basketball team, it was a mixed bag.
In its games immediately before and during the Thanksgiving break, Binghamton finished with a 2-3 record. The Bearcats lost their home opener on Friday, Nov. 21, against Portland State, 62-52. The Bearcats defense was very solid against the Vikings, limiting them to just 33 percent shooting from the field (20-60). Binghamton’s full court press was very effective in the game, which made head coach Nicole Scholl proud of her team despite the loss.
“On the defensive side, I think we did a great job,” Scholl said. “The press looked good tonight. It’s not something we can do all game right now, but we’ll look to do it more.”
Despite their strong defensive performance, the Bearcats struggled to score against Portland, and committed a whopping 24 turnovers, well above Scholl’s stated goal of 15 and under a game. Junior guard Erica Carter, who led the team with 15 points, was cognizant of this goal.
“We have to work better together and move the ball better,” Scholl said. “We have to take care of the ball better.”
On Sunday, Nov. 23 against Bryant University, the Bearcats atoned for their loss to Portland State with a 68-61 victory. Coming off the bench, junior Darryl Peterson paced Binghamton with 17 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Peterson, who is first off the bench in most games, discussed her role with the team.
“I try to be active on defense and turn it into offense,” she said. “I know my role when I go in.”
The one problem that carried over was that of committing too many turnovers. While the Bearcats forced the Bulldogs into 32 turnovers, they committed 27 themselves.
However, despite trouble handling the basketball, the Bearcats played solid defense again in their second home game of the season. Binghamton held Bryant to 39.3 percent shooting from the field (22-56), and Scholl was again proud of her team’s defensive effort.
“Our focus has been on using our defense to create our offense, and we did a good job of that tonight,” Scholl said.
In their final game before Thanksgiving, the Bearcats fell to Duquesne University on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 68-56. The Bearcats’ undoing against the Dukes was their poor rebounding; Binghamton was out-rebounded, 43-27. Scholl was displeased with her team’s effort on the glass.
“I think the biggest difference in the game was the rebounding margin,” she said.
In a positive development in the loss to the Dukes, Muffy Sadler, the team’s leading scorer thus far this season at 10 points per game, tied her career high of 18 points. She had set this career figure earlier this season in a win at Colgate University. After the game, Sadler expressed confidence that her team will find their way and continue to improve as the season progresses.
“Once conference comes,” Sadler said, “we’ll be ready to take on anybody.”
Last Saturday, the Bearcats hosted Canisius College at the Events Center.
The Golden Griffins, perhaps battle-hardened from facing three top 50 RPI teams in a row on the road, jumped out of the gates on the Bearcats, starting the game on a 7-0 run. Canisius freshman Stephanie MacDonald added to the onslaught when she hit a 3-pointer to cap a 10-0 run which put Canisius up 37-17 over Binghamton with 6:32 remaining in the first half.
The Bearcats countered with a 15-1 run of their own, led by six points from Carter and five points from junior Jackie Ward to pull the score within six points at 38-32. Canisius managed to hold onto the lead though, bringing a 43-32 advantage into halftime.
The Bearcats looked like they were going to overtake the Golden Griffins in the second half after freshman Viive Rebane hit the free throw to finish off a traditional 3-point play, cutting Canisius’ lead to 46-42 with 17:27 remaining. But again, Canisius was able to hold onto the lead, extending it to double digits throughout most of the second half.
Binghamton had one more big run in them as they used a 13-2 run in the last three minutes to make it a 73-70 game with just 41 seconds remaining. But Canisius hit six straight free throws at the end to ice the game, winning 79-73.
A bright spot for Binghamton came off the bench when junior Theodora Panteli had her finest performance in a Bearcats uniform, missing a double-double by one rebound as she put up 10 points on 4-5 shooting and nine rebounds in just 21 minutes. Carter led all Bearcats in scoring with 14 points.
Perhaps feeling inspired from the wet weather over the weekend, Binghamton made it rain on Niagara University on Monday as Erica Carter netted a career-high 20 points in an 83-65 victory over the Purple Eagles.
Binghamton’s guard play dominated this matchup as the Bearcats took control early with a 13-1 run highlighted by 10 points from Carter.
The Purple Eagles clawed back on their home court, though, and even managed to gain a 23-22 advantage with 5:41 remaining in the first half. Binghamton’s hot shooting prevailed though as Carter shot her third 3-pointer of the half with just seven seconds left to give the Bearcats a comfortable 38-31 lead.
Binghamton never looked back in the second half, opening up a double-digit lead and cruising to victory on 50 percent team shooting, and 12 points from freshman Andrea Holmes.
Carter finished with a game and career high of 20 points. Holmes also finished with a career high 16 points and senior Laura Franceski contributed six blocks.
The Bearcats are on the road again on Saturday at 1 p.m. against LaSalle University before coming home to the Events Center on Dec. 10 to play Big East member Villanova University.