When the women’s basketball team takes the floor this Wednesday, it’ll be fighting for two things: a jump in conference standings, and more importantly, a little bit of respect.

Riding a two-game win streak, the Bearcats (10-16, 6-6 AE) will face second place Stony Brook at the Events Center this Wednesday night. A win would give Binghamton sole possession of third place in the America East Conference and give the rest of the conference something to seriously worry about with the America East tournament, to be held at the Events Center, inching closer by the day.

Coming off of a dominating win over Vermont, with which the Bearcats are now tied for third place, the Bearcats will look to continue their momentum and upset the Seawolves. Stony Brook (14-10, 10-2 AE) took down Binghamton last month with an impressive performance, led by senior guard Mykeema Ford’s 27 points in a 64-57 Seawolves victory.

The Bearcats have been playing much better since that loss, going 3-1 so far this month with four games left in the regular season.

‘We’re starting to play better as a team,’ said head coach Rich Conover. ‘We’re really executing more than we have earlier in the season, with contributions from a lot more players.’

There have been many improvements on the Bearcats squad, with junior guard Laura Sario leading the pack. Sario netted America East Player of the Week honors for her efforts in helping the Bearcats to a perfect record last week, averaging 16.5 ppg and 5.0 rebounds per contest in wins over UMBC and the Catamounts. Junior forward Brianna Thompson was also impressive in the win over Vermont, contributing 13 points and seven rebounds.

‘She’s really starting to accept that role and take pride in it,’ Conover said of Sario’s new-found leadership position. ‘She was a great contribution when we went 2-0 [last week]. She’s a huge part of our team.’

For Stony Brook, Ford will again be a force to be reckoned with. She has played well as of late and is coming into this game off of a 16 point and nine rebound performance in the Seawolves’ win against New Hampshire last week. SBU has been a force on defense, out-rebounding and stealing more passes than their opponents on a regular basis this season.

The Seawolves have the task of facing the Bearcats on their home turf, though. Binghamton has lost only one conference game this season on its home court, on Jan. 4 in an overtime loss in the conference opener against Albany.

‘The fans have been great,’ Conover said, ‘which will be huge for the end of our season. We definitely need to establish home court advantage with us hosting the tournament this year.’

The game Wednesday night will be the first of the last four of the regular season games, three of which will be played at the Events Center. Binghamton will have to face first place Hartford this weekend at home, so a win on Wednesday would only aid the already soaring momentum for the Bearcats.