It took a layup at the buzzer to decide the winner on Thursday evening as Hartford claimed a 41-39 victory over the Binghamton women’s basketball team. The loss was the Bearcats’ third in a row.
Hartford (10-14, 6-5 America East) senior guard Katelyn Skinner supplied the heroics for the visiting Hawks, as her offensive rebound and put-back put an end to a back-and-forth game between the fourth and fifth-place teams in the AE.
The last minute of the fourth quarter epitomized the Bearcats’ struggles throughout the night. After a hard-fought jump ball just prior to Skinner’s buzzer-beater, Binghamton (10-15, 5-7 AE) had possession with a full shot clock, a tie score and 47 seconds left in regulation. Binghamton opted to use the whole shot clock, with its possession ending in a contested three-pointer by sophomore guard Imani Watkins that came up just short.
“We need to get [sophomore guard] Alyssa James the ball more,” senior guard Kim Albrecht said. “[There were] too many turnovers and missed wide-open shots. We’ve got to play better.”
In that possession, much like for the rest of the game, the Bearcats hardly even looked the way of James, their second-highest scorer. The ball instead traveled along the perimeter, eventually ending in Watkins’ hands, putting her in a tough position behind the 3-point line.
“We told the kids to attack the basket,” Binghamton head coach Linda Cimino said. “It’s just that experience and mentality of settling for a jump shot instead of attacking the basket.”
While Binghamton will certainly have trouble getting over how the game ended, there were positives to take from the contest. After seeing a seven-point first quarter lead turn into a nine-point deficit by halftime, the Bearcats clawed their way back by the end of the third quarter.
Two timely 3-pointers by Albrecht, who finished 3-for-13 from the field, provided the impetus for the Bearcats’ third-quarter comeback. A steal by Albrecht with a minute left in the third quarter, followed by a layup by freshman guard Rebecca Carmody, gave Binghamton its first lead since the first quarter, 35-34.
But Binghamton’s struggles on the offensive side of the floor came to a climax in the fourth quarter. The Bearcats only managed to score four points in the final quarter and netted just one field goal, a layup by Carmody, in the period.
The only Binghamton player who didn’t struggle from the field was junior forward Kristin Ross, who scored six of the Bearcats’ first nine points en route to an eight-point performance and 66.6 percent shooting clip.
Ross was able to get to the rim in the early stages of the game, but once she stopped getting the ball in dangerous positions down low, there was no one to follow her footsteps with the Bearcats failing to get the ball inside to James with any regularity.
“We’ve got to work on some consistency with our offense and attacking and making sure Alyssa [James] gets the ball,” she said.
The Bearcats will look to end their three-game losing skid on Tuesday when they are set to host Vermont. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.