Although the Binghamton women’s basketball team was up by 11 points at halftime, the Bearcats failed to hold back Lehigh in the final two quarters of the game. The Mountain Hawks turned their 11-point deficit into an 11-point victory, winning 79-68 by the final buzzer.
“The first half, we did great,” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “They came down and we had a little adversity. I told them at halftime, ‘Look, they’re gonna come out swinging, but what are we going to do?’ We gotta be ready to punch back, punch harder. That’s basketball, though. It’s a game of runs. We’re on their home court, they’re a really good team.”
Junior guard Denai Bowman and junior forward Birna Benonysdottir led BU (3-4) in scoring for the first quarter of play. Outside of a 3-pointer from senior guard Hayley Moore, Bowman and Benonysdottir scored all of Binghamton’s first-period points as they went up 17-13 over Lehigh (6-3).
“[Bowman] did her thing,” Shapiro Ord said. “She was attacking the rim … She kept attacking and didn’t stop.”
Binghamton remained in control of the game during the second period of play and further extended its lead. Bowman and Benonysdottir continued to spearhead the Bearcat offense, both contributing to BU’s 22 points in the second quarter. Lehigh trailed for the entirety of the period and never came within less than four points of drawing the score with the away side.
“[Lehigh] wasn’t ready for our pressure at all,” Shapiro Ord said. “We just turned them over and really disrupted their offense which was what we were trying to do … I thought we did a really good job defensively, especially in the first half on the rebounding end. The second half, we gave them too many second-chance opportunities.”
In the second half of play, Lehigh earned 13 points off of second-chance opportunities. Six of those points came in the third quarter when the Mountain Hawks made up ground on Binghamton, eventually taking a 57-56 lead at the twilight of the period. Lehigh further extended its lead in the last 10 minutes of play and Binghamton was unable to muster an offensive response, tallying a game-low 12 points during the fourth quarter.
Benonysdottir posted 19 points and Bowman added a career-high 27 to the total, surpassing her previous best of 23 during BU’s season opener against Siena. The combined total of 46 points from the two Bearcats accounted for 67.6 percent of the team’s total score against the Mountain Hawks.
“Part of our plan was to get it inside to [Benonysdottir],” Shapiro Ord said. “When we pound it in to her, great things happen. They couldn’t stop her until they put three or four people on her.”
Contributing another eight points along with seven rebounds and three assists was junior forward Jalyn Van Dyke. She was also perfect from behind the arc, cashing in on both of her 3-point attempts.
“We’re still young,” Shapiro Ord said. “We’re not where we need to be, we’re still a work in progress, but different players have been stepping up. Today, [Van Dyke] did her job. She played 24 minutes, she got in some foul trouble which hurt us a little bit too … She had a great game. That’s what we need from her day in and day out.”
The Bearcats have not beaten Lehigh since 2005. Binghamton’s last game against the Mountain Hawks concluded 65-55 and was highlighted by a 27-point game from former forward Rebecca Carmody.
BU is next slated to play the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown on Tuesday, Dec. 7. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.