After two seasons with the Binghamton women’s basketball team, junior guard Hayley Moore is prepared to take a more prominent role on Binghamton’s roster this upcoming season.

Moore appeared in 27 games last season, had a season high of 12 points on four three-point field goals in a game against Stony Brook and was named as a member of the America East (AE) Commissioner’s Honor Roll and a member of the Spring Athletic Director’s Honor Roll last season.

Moore began playing basketball around second grade, along with other sports, with her older brother. Over time, she dropped the other sports and dedicated her time to basketball, which eventually led her to BU.

“I played a lot of sports, but basketball kind of stuck with me,” Moore said. “When I got to middle school, I stopped playing all the other sports and focused on basketball. My passion for it just grew from there, and it has gotten me to Binghamton University, where I am succeeding.”

On the court, Moore is primarily a three-point shooter and has deep range.

“My job is to knock down open shots,” Moore said. “I would say I have deep range for someone my size. When I’m out there, I’m a shooting threat, and that helps open the floor up for my teammates too as the other team has to come up and contest me.”

During the offseason, Moore focused on improving her game as well as working on her leadership skills. As a junior with two years under her belt, she is trying to become the best leader she can for her teammates. Along with improving mentally as a leader, Moore has worked on her physicality in order to be the best version of herself come game time.

“I’m working on my speed and strength,” Moore said. “During quarantine, I focused on getting stronger and faster as well as getting my shot off quicker and expanding my range. I also focused on being more of a leader to help my teammates, as now being an upperclassman that’s part of my job”

The team reached the AE semifinals last season with Moore coming off the bench. This season, she plans to make even more of an impact for the Bearcats, ideally providing the team with an offensive spark. She’s focused on helping her team this upcoming season by being effective on both sides of the floor.

“For this upcoming season, one of my personal goals is to give it my all every single game — I want to leave every game knowing I left it all on the floor,” Moore said. “Basketball-wise, my goals would be knocking down open shots and being a threat offensively and defensively. I want to do everything I can to help my team because in the end we all want to win a championship and I will do whatever it takes to get there.”

Even though this upcoming season will look different than normal, Moore and the team remain focused on their goal of winning a championship. The new schedule with back-to-back conference games may offer some struggles, but Moore is committed to improving herself as well as becoming a standout leader for her teammates this season.

“Every year the expectation is to win a championship, and it’s not any different this year,” Moore said. “We want to win that championship and get as far as we can … Having back-to-back games might make it a little tough, but we are going to give everything we can and play as hard as we can. We are just going to take it step by step, game by game. Growing as a team and feeding off each other’s energy will be important to stick together as well as playing every game like it’s our last.”