There was no love left for the Binghamton University women’s basketball team who, despite strong efforts from their freshman starters, fell to Stony Brook University, 62-51, on Saturday.
Binghamton (10-14, 5-6 America East) had to play again without senior forward Laura Franceski and the America East’s leading 3-point shooter, junior Muffy Sadler, who are still day-to-day due to concussion and ankle injuries, respectively.
In the absence of the two upperclassmen, freshmen guard Andrea Holmes and forward Viive Rebane continued to pace the Bearcats with their strong play. Rebane recorded the first double-double of her career against the Seawolves, scoring 15 points and 15 rebounds. Holmes almost recorded a double-double as well, scoring 13 points and nine rebounds.
Despite the strong efforts from Holmes and Rebane, the Bearcats struggled with their shooting and were unable to match the frenetic pace of the game set by Stony Brook.
“Stony Brook did a good job of making us play faster than we are used to … We had a lot of open looks that were ours for the taking, but we just did not make our shots today,” said Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl according to a Binghamton University press release.
Binghamton opened up the scoring on a layup from junior Theodora Panteli and a jumper from Rebane, but the Bearcats shooting went cold from that point, and Stony Brook capitalized, going on a 12-2 run, never looking back.
Stony Brook amassed as much as a 14-point lead in the first half as the Bearcats struggled to a 7-31 shooting clip, including 0-8 from 3-point range. This in stark contrast to the first meeting against the Seawolves this season on Jan. 18 at the Events Center, when Binghamton was on fire from beyond the arc, connecting on 59 percent of their 3-point attempts on 10-17 shooting.
The Bearcats remained undeterred in the second half, though, and cut the Seawolves lead to 42-38 with 12:08 remaining on an 11-2 run led by strong paint play by Rebane, junior Darryll Peterson and sophomore Jaki Goldner. Stony Brook never let it get closer than four, though, and iced the game down the stretch, connecting on seven of nine free-throw attempts in the last five minutes.
Sophomore Kirsten Jeter and junior Kairsten Nunn led Stony Brook with 14 points apiece. Jeter and freshman Destiny Jacobs each collected 11 rebounds for the Seawolves.
Aside from Holmes’ and Rebane’s strong performances, Goldner had a big day for the Bearcats. Filling the void left by Franceski’s injury, Goldner just missed the double-double with nine points and nine rebounds.
All in all, it was a tough shooting day for the Bearcats. Binghamton finished the game 19-71 from the field and 2-18 from beyond the arc. Even though the Bearcats prefer a more up-tempo game speed, 71 is the most shots Binghamton has taken in a game this season.
On the positive side, the Bearcats have recovered from their rebounding woes that they faced earlier in the month. Binghamton grabbed a season-high 56 rebounds, which included a season-high 22 offensive rebounds.
This loss to Stony Brook drops the Bearcats to 5-6 in America East play and also into a three-way tie in the loss column for fourth place with UMBC and Stony Brook.
The Bearcats will be seeing red for the third game in a row on Wednesday against Boston University, as the University of Hartford and Stony Brook University also wear red uniforms.
Boston University is currently leading the America East with an 11-0 conference record.
Game time is 7 p.m. at the Events Center; all Binghamton undergrads receive free admission upon showing a student ID.