Entering the final month of regular season play, every game is a must-win. Kicking off February with a road victory against one of the conference’s top teams would be a great start toward securing a higher seed in the upcoming America East tournament.

Tomorrow, Binghamton University women’s basketball (8-13, 4-4 America East) faces Boston University (11-10, 7-2 AE) in a rematch of its 68-57 loss on Jan. 7 at the Events Center when it travels to the Agganis Arena in Massachusetts to take on the Terriers.

The first meeting between the two teams was a tale of three games rolled into one. Boston opened up a 39-21 advantage with 18:21 remaining in the second half, but Binghamton countered with a 26-12 run to pull within 51-47 with 4:54 to play. Boston, however, closed the game scoring on nine of its final 10 possessions to close out the victory. Despite the strong second half in the loss to Boston, Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl wants to see a stronger effort from the beginning of tomorrow’s game.

“I thought that we had a very slow start the first time we played Boston,” said Scholl. “We need to come out with better focus and intensity from the start. When we made our comeback, I felt it was more to do with our effort on defense and our effort on offensive rebounding, getting second and third chances at the basket.”

Scholl believes her team will do a better job of containing Boston’s attack, led by guards Chantell Alford and Alex Young, in tomorrow’s contest.

“Boston’s guard play in general is very good overall and that is where most of their scoring comes from,” Scholl said. “Chantell Alford in particular is playing very well for them as she can score in a variety of ways. Erica Carter did a fantastic job on her last time and will be asked to do the same on Wednesday. We can’t afford to have many defensive mistakes, as I thought that was what led to some easy scores for Alex Young and also Aly Hinton who doesn’t start for them, but as a key returner knows how to hit big shots when the game is on the line.”

Binghamton’s strong play since its loss to Boston four weeks ago bodes well for the team, heading into tomorrow’s contest. The Bearcats are 4-3 since they dropped their home game against the Terriers. Since that game, the team’s three leading scorers have been on a tear. Carter has led the way with 17 points per game, Viive Rebane has averaged 12.7 points and eight rebounds per contest and Andrea Holmes has contributed 13.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game. Scholl praised her players’ strong play in recent weeks heading into tomorrow’s tussle with the Terriers.

“Overall as a team we have improved greatly,” Scholl said. “I feel we are moving the ball better offensively and our shot selection has been much better. Carter and Rebane both have been shooting the ball very consistently and we are getting balanced scoring for the most part if you look at our stats.”

With tomorrow’s game against Boston looming, Scholl made one thing clear: she expects this game to be a tough battle, as she believes the conference as a whole is extremely balanced.

“I don’t believe you are going to see too many blowout games as teams are so well scouted, so it is important for us to be confident whether we are ahead or trailing and have the confidence to be able to make plays during the end of the game when we need them,” Scholl said.

Binghamton is set for its ninth conference game of the season. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.