As the Binghamton women’s basketball team is set to take the floor on Tuesday night against Vermont, they’ll have to forget their matchup from last Thursday. The Bearcats (10-15, 5-7 America East) were defeated on a put-back buzzer beater at home against Hartford, suffering their third loss in a row.
“It was heartbreaking,” BU sophomore guard Imani Watkins said. “[Binghamton head coach Linda] Cimino told us around halftime that it would come down to an offensive rebound and it did. We didn’t do a good job getting on the defensive boards and it showed.”
The Bearcats jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the game, before the Hawks (11-14, 7-5 AE) pulled ahead, forcing BU to play catch-up.
“An early lead is extremely important, but if you don’t maintain it, it really doesn’t mean anything,” Watkins said. “I think we got complacent. We stopped going to what worked and so we lost that lead.”
Senior guard Kim Albrecht has begun approaching her final games in a Bearcat uniform and her teammates have taken notice in getting her the ball late in games. Albrecht currently sits in the top two in NCAA women’s basketball with a .921 free-throw percentage.
“When games come down to the wire, it’s kind of hard for [the other team] because we put the ball in Kim’s hands and when they foul we know that it’s going to be two points,” Watkins said. “It’s really tough for teams to foul us because of how well she’s shooting the ball at the stripe.”
The Catamounts (7-18, 2-10 AE) come off of a 52-50 overtime loss at Hartford on Sunday and were previously defeated by the Bearcats, 57-53, on January 21. Spearheading Vermont’s offense will be sophomore guard Sydney Smith, a 2015 America East (AE) All-Rookie selection, who is currently averaging 10.4 points per game. Despite allowing 64 points per game, the Catamounts lead the AE in blocks per game, averaging five per contest. Freshman Candice Wright has contributed largely to Vermont’s prowess protecting the paint, averaging 1.6 per game. This strength, however, will be matched by sophomore forward Alyssa James, who is ranked 17th in the nation with 2.92 blocks per game.
Watkins says that she’ll have to maintain focus on both sides of the ball.
“We just have to do a better job taking care of the ball and being really aggressive defensively,” Watkins said. “I’ll be focused on taking better shots. I want to step up defensively and be a better leader on the floor.”
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.