On a night when its defense was functioning perfectly, it was the same night that the offense stalled out.
The Binghamton University women’s basketball team struggled offensively in the second half and dropped a non-conference game against Villanova 55-37 on Wednesday. The loss ended the Bearcats two-game win streak.
“Villanova is a good program,” said Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl. “I’m happy how we came back as a team.”
BU used an 8-0 run to close out the first half and get within 29-25, led by junior Erica Carter who had eight points in the first half on 3-4 shooting. The Bearcats used tight-nosed defense to hold back the Wildcat offense in both halves.
“We were being aggressive,” Scholl said on their first-half defense. “It worked for us; we came out flat but we fought back.”
Villanova used an 18-4 run to start the second half to go up 47-29 and put the game out of reach. The Bearcats defense remained strong, holding the Wildcats scoreless for over four minutes late in the game. But the Bearcats shot just 2-21 for the second half; just under 10 percent shooting made them unable to mount a comeback.
“The ball just wasn’t bouncing our way,” Scholl said. “I am glad we kept playing and never gave up.”
The Bearcats lost to Villanova in both their previous two meetings. The Wildcats, who play in the Big East, have a very difficult conference schedule and will face five nationally ranked teams in conference play.
“We got to keep working on our offense,” Carter said. “We did well defensively.”
The Bearcats looked to get the offense going through senior Laura Franceski in the decisive second half, but double-teaming by the Wildcats made the job harder.
“We got great looks,” Franceski said. “They just weren’t falling; we’ll give it time.”
The team had a rough patch to start the game playing against a tough program. Villanova jumped out of the gates to go up 27-12 with 5:33 to play in the half. BU stormed back finishing the half strong on a 13-2 run.
“We have to get rid of the lull at the beginning of games,” Franceski said. “We are getting down early and that makes it hard.”
Scholl echoed the senior forward.
“We need to be there at the start instead of waiting for it to get going,” Scholl said. “These games only help us get ready for America East play. It prepares us for that style of play we’ll see in a few weeks.”