With convincing victories in their last two games over the University of New Hampshire and the University of Maine, the Binghamton University women’s basketball team looked primed to defend the Events Center against conference powerhouse Vermont and move into third place in the America East.
But the Bearcats were dealt a last minute blow when senior forward Laura Franceski was ruled out for the Wednesday night game after receiving a concussion in practice on Monday.
The loss of Franceski’s senior leadership on the court proved too much for the Bearcats (9-12, 4-4 America East) to overcome as the Catamounts (12-9, 6-2 AE) used a balanced team effort to pull away from Binghamton in the second half en route to a 64-38 victory.
In place of the injured Franceski, junior forward Theodora Panteli received her first start and freshman forward Sinead O’Reilly played her most significant minutes of the year against a Vermont starting lineup that featured three players with a height of 6 feet 1 inch and taller.
In a first half marked by solid defense and riddled with turnovers, Vermont took the early lead with back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Amy Rosenkrantz. The Catamounts role players had a big night as much of Binghamton’s defensive focus went to reining America East player of the year junior Courtnay Pilypaitis, and May Kotsopoulos, who was averaging 14.7 points per game going into Wednesday’s matchup. Bearcats junior Darryll Peterson had the task of guarding Pilypaitis.
“She [Peterson] did a great job on Courtnay tonight … keeping her in check, keeping her well below her average,” Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl said.
Binghamton forced 11 first-half turnovers from Vermont, six of which were committed by Pilypaitis.
Binghamton closed the gap to 19-17 off a free-throw line jumper from freshman Andrea Holmes, but Vermont finished the first half on a 10-2 run highlighted by two field goals from Rosenkrantz to take a 29-19 halftime lead.
The most important stat for the Bearcats in the first half was their 2-11 effort from the free-throw line, which turned a potential one-possession game into a double-digit deficit.
The absence of Franceski was especially felt in the second half as Vermont dominated the paint both offensively and defensively. Vermont limited the Bearcats to only eight offensive rebounds, five in the second half and out rebounded Binghamton for the game by a 42-27 margin.
“They (UVM) rebounded extremely well, and I think that was the biggest part of what affected the game,” junior Erica Carter said.
Vermont senior forward Kelli Poles took advantage of the young Binghamton frontcourt as she had a dominant performance off the bench for the Catamounts, recording a double-double of 14 points on 7-10 shooting, and pulling down 10 rebounds.
Combined with the rebounding troubles, turnovers have been a season long nemesis for the Bearcats, and Wednesday night was no different as Binghamton had 22 giveaways.
“Some of our decision making could have been better … Vermont did a good job disrupting our offense,” Scholl said.
All in all, Vermont held the Bearcats to only 38 points on 35.6 percent shooting while limiting Binghamton to a season low one 3-pointer on eight shots.
It was not all gloom and doom for the Bearcats, though. Peterson’s defensive intensity stood out as she had four steals while holding Vermont’s Pilypaitis to almost six points below her season average. Carter also looks to be putting her shooting woes behind her as she scored 10 points on 4-9 shooting. Carter had shot a combined 5-35 the previous three games. Holmes led the Bearcats with 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.
Still, the Bearcats definitely missed Franceski’s presence on the court.
“It did hurt us not having [Franceski] inside tonight besides just the scoring factor, a rebounding and defensive factor too,” Scholl said.
As the Bearcats move on to Albany on Saturday, improved rebounding is their primary focus.
“Rebounding was a major factor in the [Vermont] game, so we just have to keep boxing out, getting rebounds,” Carter said.
The Bearcats look to sweep the season series with Albany after defeating the Great Danes, 67-63, at the Events Center on Jan. 10.
Game time is Feb. 8, at 4:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the Time Warner Sports channel.