A must win game. An inspired team rallying around an injured star. A perennial conference power coming to town. It all adds up to one of the biggest games of the year.

The Binghamton University women’s basketball team returns home for its first game of the semester, taking on Vermont (7-9, 3-3 AE) at 7 p.m. tonight at the Events Center. The Bearcats (10-6, 3-2 AE) are on a two-game losing streak and will hope to right their ship against a tough Catamounts squad.

“I think it’s a must win game,” said head coach Rich Conover. “We want to reestablish a winning streak at home. Within the conference you can’t afford to lose too many games.”

The Bearcats already have one factor working against them as star Rachel Laws is doubtful to play, and is expected to miss her fourth consecutive game.

“The ankle is very touchy,” Conover said. “We don’t wanna rush anything.”

Vermont is a very young squad that current sits in fifth place in the America East, right behind Binghamton, Boston University, and Stony Brook who are tied for second. After starting off 0-2 in conference play, the Catamounts have heated up and are of winners of three of their last four.

The team relies heavily on its star sophomore guard Alexis Castro who is averaging a mind boggling 20.2 points per game in conference play, and 16 ppg overall. Castro has registered double-digit points in all but one contest this season, including an astounding 34 points against Maine three games ago.

BU will need its role players to step up as they have all season, especially to off set the loss of Laws. If they are able to contain Castro then it should be smooth sailing for Binghamton, as Vermont is 0-5 when Castro scores 12 points or less.

Vermont has dominated Binghamton in its history, going 9-1 with the Bearcats registering their first victory ever against them last year. Vermont however would go on to knock the Bearcats out of the conference tournament and finish the year 2-1 against them.

Despite being without their star and losing two straight, the Bearcats remain confident that they can win this game.

“We’re not going to do anything too different,” Conover said. “We just want to try to win some games after a couple of tough losses.”