Rachel Laws was back in uniform, but once again, it was replacement Laura Sario who saved the day.
The Binghamton University women’s basketball team bounced back from its worst loss of the season Saturday, defeating Maine 69-64 at the Events Center. After leading by as many as 13 in the second half, BU (13-7, 6-3 AE) held off the Black Bears’ (6-14, 2-7 AE) comeback attempt behind solid free-throw shooting and the play of sophomore Sario, who scored all 13 of her points in the second half.
Despite being down double-digits in the second half, the Black Bears surged back to claim a 47-45 lead with nine minutes to go after junior guard Ashley Underwood drilled a jumper. And that’s when Sario hit the game’s biggest shot — a three-pointer from the corner — and the Bearcats would never trail again.
“I feel like we were on top of it the whole time,” Sario said. “I mean, we were up by 13 and we shouldn’t have let up three threes in a row but I think we felt comfortable the whole time.”
BU controlled the entire first half of play and opened the second half the same way, going up 40-27 early. But that’s when Maine began its run with three unanswered three-pointers to cut the Bearcats’ lead to four.
“We were a little nervous,” said head coach Rich Conover. “I think we did a nice job to extend the lead to 13 and then Maine turned right around and hit three threes in about a minute. I thought we kept our composure and we made some key foul shots down the stretch. It wasn’t pretty, but Maine is a tough team.”
Sophomore center Laine Kurpniece, who had trouble getting past UMBC’s zone defense last game, paced the Bearcats early with 20 points as she constantly eluded Maine’s interior defense.
“[Kurpniece] gets the job done in the low post and she gets herself to the line,” said Maine head coach Ann McInerney. “I think she was sneaking behind our zone defense early and getting easy baskets. We need to be tougher and I think one thing was that we weren’t tough enough tonight.”
Freshman forward Laura Franceski continued her impressive first season, scoring nine points and pulling down eight boards.
“I don’t think you can say enough about her,” Conover said. “She puts up very big numbers and with Jen [Haubrich] struggling a little bit today and Bri [Brianna Thompson] getting hurt early we absolutely needed her to come in and have a great game.”
The win kept the Bearcats in second place in the America East and three games behind Hartford.
Senior forward Rachel Laws dressed for the first time since she was injured against Stony Brook six games ago, but did not play. Conover said Laws will return to action Thursday when the Bearcats head to New Hampshire (12-8, 4-5 AE).