On Saturday, the Binghamton women’s basketball team played its Senior Day Game against the University of New Hampshire. After holding a commanding lead for the majority of the contest, the Bearcats pushed through a late-game surge by the Wildcats to win 60-49.

“[UNH] had a good group,” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “They have a couple seniors that are pretty good obviously … I just think it was a great game defensively overall for us holding them … They’re a good team.”

Before the game, seniors on the team were announced and celebrated before the opening tipoff. Senior guard Hayley Moore, junior guard Hanna Strawn, as well as former guard Lizzy Spindler, who opted out of the season last year, were honored.

“It’s more than basketball,” Shapiro Ord said. “We love to have [Spindler] back just to show our love.”

The Bearcats (8-19, 4-13 America East [AE]) started off fast on both sides of the floor. On offense, BU accumulated 21 points on 69 percent shooting in the first quarter, while holding the Wildcats (7-20, 4-12 AE) to 11 points on 40 percent shooting. The Bearcats made it an effort to put the ball inside and drove in the paint consistently, as junior forward Jalyn Van Dyke had two layups in the post within the first four minutes of play. Binghamton ended with 30 points in the paint on the day.

“Last time we played them, we couldn’t let other people get above their average,” Shapiro Ord said. “One person is not going to beat you … We just really played for each other and played team defense.”

BU continued its success in the second quarter, outscoring UNH 18-12. The Bearcats shot just under 54 percent for the quarter and had success behind the arc, connecting on three of their six 3-point attempts. Junior guard Denai Bowman stepped up on both sides of the ball, tallying three steals on top of scoring a team-high 15 points. She also handed out three assists in the process.

“Game in and game out we get [Bowman] always,” Shapiro Ord said. “She just brings everything every night.”

Binghamton took advantage of the turnovers it forced throughout the game, scoring eight points via fastbreak and 15 points off of turnovers. The Bearcats also facilitated the ball well, finishing the game with 15 assists as a team. Moore capitalized on the consistent ball movement, finishing the game with three 3-pointers as well as dishing out four assists.

“[Moore] is that senior that the girls just absolutely love,” Shapiro Ord said. “We all love her and tonight she stepped up and knocked down her shots.”

After the first half, the Wildcats started to string together some defensive stops and began to chip away at the Bearcat lead. In the fourth quarter, Binghamton was held to 23 percent shooting from the field while UNH connected on 70 percent of its attempts. This allowed the Wildcats to mount a brief comeback, outscoring BU 16-9 in the period. BU’s 23-point fourth quarter lead was dwindled down to as little as nine with under a minute to play. The Bearcats, however, thwarted the comeback after junior forward Clare Traeger hit a pair of free throws to ice the game.

“We talk about playing four quarters, thank goodness we had good padding,” Shapiro Ord said. “We just had to get stops.”

Following their win, the Bearcats have one more regular season game remaining as they prepare to play UMBC this Wednesday, March 2. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.