The Binghamton women’s basketball team traveled to take on No. 6-ranked Michigan on Tuesday, kicking off a four-game road trip, with the team’s first away fixture of the season. Michigan battered the traveling Bearcats, scoring more than double their visitors as the Bearcats left with a 120-50 loss.

“I thought our bench actually did a really good job, coming in and fighting,” said Binghamton head coach Mary Grimes. “Especially in the second half, especially the fourth quarter.”

Michigan (4-0) set the tone of the match immediately, scoring nine points to open up the game before Binghamton (2-2) found its first basket courtesy of a layup from junior guard Yanniah Boyd. The Wolverines continued to dominate the entire first quarter, outscoring the Bearcats 37-14, with junior guard Bella Pucci being the only Bearcat to have multiple scores, driving in a layup before draining a three-pointer later in the period.

Headed into the second quarter, the Wolverines continued to control the pace of play, going on a 16-2 scoring run to start the period and taking a commanding 53-16 lead. The Bearcats were held to just seven points in the second quarter, with five of them coming from Pucci once more, who held 10 points at the half as the score read 66-21.

“When we’re playing these types of opponents, we’ve got to come out ready to go right from the start,” Grimes said. “We can’t be fearful and kind of wait and see what’s going to happen. We’ve got to just have that mindset of just playing hard right from the beginning.”

The second half started similarly, as Michigan opened up with an 11-0 scoring run to go up 77-21. A successful free throw from freshman guard Ashley Redd, followed by a layup from freshman guard Carletta Bennett, gave the Bearcats three more points, but Michigan answered with another nine-point run. Redd provided the only additional score for Binghamton in the third, hitting a layup with a little over a minute remaining, making it an 88-26 quarter.

The fourth quarter saw Binghamton open the scoring for the first time all night, with a successful layup drive from Pucci. The teams traded points, going back and forth over the next several possessions before Michigan went on a six-point run, bringing the score to 101-34. After another layup from Bennett, a series of free throws gave Binghamton all of their next seven points, which ended when senior guard Kaia Goode hit a jumper. The Bearcats’ last buckets of the match came as Pucci drained two free throws before hitting the final score of the game, thanks to a three-pointer with just a few seconds left, leaving a final score of 120-50.

“This is what we’re striving to get to, we’re striving to get to NCAA tournaments, trying to win championships,” Grimes said. “So, being in this environment and playing against this top-level team, this is what we’re going to see when we get there. So despite the outcome, I think it was a good experience overall, just to be in this environment, so we’re not shell-shocked when our time does come.”

Pucci led the team in scoring on the night with a season-high 19 points, followed by Redd with seven. She also currently leads the team with an average of 15.3 points per game. Pucci also had a team-leading two steals on the night, while senior guard Meghan Casey led the team with six rebounds.

“I actually want [Pucci] to be more aggressive,” Grimes said. “But she’s doing what she needs to do offensively. We’ve just got to get some other people to be as aggressive as she is. So if she can remain consistent and we can get some people on board with her, we’ll be in good shape.”

Binghamton will continue its road trip with a tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20 as it takes on the Akron Zips at the James A. Rhodes Arena in Akron, Ohio.