Despite leading for the vast majority of the first three quarters against Bryant, the Binghamton women’s basketball team went on to drop the matchup 55-51 on Saturday afternoon at Chace Atlantic Center in Smithfield, Rhode Island after being outscored 20-8 in the fourth quarter by the Bulldogs.

“Shots just weren’t falling for us in that fourth quarter,” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “You gotta play four quarters though. It’s not three-quarters and that’s a big thing. You’ve got to play [for] 40 minutes.”

After Bryant (12-12, 5-6 America East [AE]) won the opening tip and made a quick layup, redshirt sophomore guard Jadyn Weltz answered for Binghamton (9-15, 4-7 AE), taking it to the cup for two. Both teams then went back and forth as junior forward Genevieve Coleman drained a corner jumper to knot the score at six. Not long after, freshman forward Kendall Bennett laid one over her defender to cut Bryant’s lead to 10-8. To end the period, Weltz made a layup in transition as the Bearcats trailed 13-12 at the end of the first period.

“First and foremost, we need to get our mindsets right,” Shapiro Ord said. “No matter what, they’ve got to play through anything. We’ve got to be tougher.”

Weltz started the second quarter with a steal and a transition layup that gave BU a 14-13 lead. Binghamton made four straight points to begin the period as graduate student guard Denai Bowman drained a mid-range jumper. Then, a three-pointer from Coleman gave BU a 19-15 lead. The matchup remained low-scoring as things were tied at 19 with just over three minutes to go in the period. Sophomore guard Ella Wanzer and Weltz then drained back-to-back three-pointers to go up 25-21. The Bearcats’ defense held the Bulldogs to just 25.9 percent in the first half, contributing to BU’s 27-21 lead going into halftime.

“The first three quarters … we played pretty good,” Shapiro Ord said. “When [players] come off the bench, [they’ve] got to be able to step up and knock down shots with confidence.”

The second half started with Weltz once again recording a steal off of a deflection and laying it in to make it 29-21. The Bearcats made it a double-digit lead at 31-21 after Coleman spun on her defender and laid it in. Bryant stayed within striking distance, capitalizing from the free throw line, trailing BU 36-31 with just five minutes left. However, sophomore forward Camryn Fauria knocked down a three-pointer to extend BU’s lead back to 10. Going into the final period, BU led 43-35.

“Our rebounding needed to be better,” Shapiro Ord said. “[Bryant] outrebounded us. [Bryant] had 28 points in the paint to our 22, and they had eight second-chance opportunities.

The Bulldogs scored six points straight to make it a 43-41 game. After being held scoreless for the first four minutes of the period, Bennett got BU on the board, knocking down one of two free throws to extend the lead back to three at 44-41. After tying things up at 44, the Bulldogs then knocked down back-to-back three-pointers — their first two of the game — to take their first lead at 50-45. With all the momentum, Bryant continued to build its lead, outscoring BU 20-8 in the period and going up by as much as 10, as Binghamton fell 55-51.

“It was definitely a tough stretch at the end because we definitely should’ve had [Bryant],” Shapiro Ord said. “But [Bryant is] a tough team. [We’ve] got to keep digging. [We’ve] got to keep coming up with stops. [We’ve] got to make sure we’re not leaving anything open.”

Weltz was the only Bearcat in double figures with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals, before getting injured late in the fourth quarter. As a team, the Bearcats shot just 35.1 percent from the field. Bryant held the advantage from the charity stripe, which ultimately made the difference, making 17-of-24 while BU hit 6-of-9.

“[Weltz] did a really good job,” Shapiro Ord said. “I tried to give her a couple minutes break but you know having her out there you know running the offense and doing that was tremendous. [Weltz] did a great job defensively.”

Binghamton will end its three-game road trip against UMBC on Thursday, Feb. 15. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at the Chesapeake Employers Insurance Arena in Baltimore, Maryland.