The Binghamton University women’s basketball team found itself in two entirely different games at the ASU Classic over the weekend, but the ultimate result of each was familiar to the young Bearcats, who fell 60-35 to host Arizona State University and 58-56 to University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Against Arizona State (3-4), the Bearcats (0-8) found themselves trailing from the opening minute. The Sun Devils burst out in the first half, scoring 12 straight points in the opening 4:16. The Bearcats struggled in the early minutes as they missed on their first six shots.
Binghamton cut the deficit to 16-8 only to give up 10 unanswered points, giving the Sun Devils a 26-8 lead with 4:17 remaining in the half.
BU scored the opening four points of the second half to bring the score to 35-20, but then failed to register a bucket in the next six minutes, and the Sun Devils pushed their lead to 21 with just over 12 minutes remaining.
The game was pushed entirely out of reach by the 2:49 mark, as the Sun Devils had just finished a 14-4 run to hold a 58-31 advantage.
ASU proved to be too big for the Bearcats, scoring 30 points in the paint compared to BU’s four. Binghamton also allowed 27 points off 21 turnovers.
Freshman forward Morgan Murphy led the Bearcats with nine points, while sophomore forward Sherae Swinson put up seven points and grabbed six boards, a team high.
The Bearcats fared much better the following day as they took on UNLV (4-5) Sunday afternoon at the Wells Fargo Arena.
Binghamton fell down 13-7 in the opening 1:56, but fought back to tie the game at 15 apiece with 15:18 remaining in the half. Senior forward Kara Elofson led the Bearcats with four points during the opening stretch.
A 7-2 run by the Rebels over a three-minute stretch gave UNLV a 28-23 lead, which was extended to 37-31 at halftime.
After the break, the Bearcats found an early rhythm, as they went on a 12-2 run in the opening 5:40. Murphy and Swinson, who each scored four points during that stretch, were the sparkplugs.
“It started with our defense,” Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl said. “We got some defensive stops and were able to attack in transition a little bit, moved the ball around and were able to get some looks on the inside.”
With 7:26 remaining in regulation, the Bearcats held a 54-47 advantage. But the Rebels went on a 10-0 run over 4:24 to take a 57-54 lead.
Binghamton went cold during the final stretch of the game, connecting on only one of its final 10 shots. The Bearcats did have possession in the final seconds of the game but were unable to get a shot off as the clock expired, ending the game at 58-56 in UNLV’s favor.
“It’s frustrating,” Scholl said. “We’re still working with a young team; this was definitely a step in the right direction. The next step is being in a close game like this and being able to finish it out in the end.”
There were bright spots throughout the contest, most notably in the continued great play from Murphy, who led the team with 16 points. Swinson posted 13, while junior guard Jasbriell Swain added 10 points, seven boards and a career-high 10 assists.
“Overall I thought we had a good defensive effort,” Scholl said. “We did a good job of keeping their players in check … We out rebounded them 49 to 37… its too bad. We had that lead in the second half, but they slowly battled back and took it from us.”
Binghamton is set to face the University at Buffalo on Saturday night.
“We just continue to keep working on what we’ve been doing and keep working on our defense to help our offense and just keep working on our system,” Scholl said.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Buffalo’s Alumni Arena.