Rachel Laws finally won her first playoff game only to see her college career come to an end the following day.

Binghamton’s women’s basketball team pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind victory in the quarterfinals of the America East tournament on March 10, defeating UMBC 77-66 in overtime. Unfortunately, after playing their hearts out all night, the Bearcats had to go back the next day and play again — against the most dominating team in the conference — and were eliminated by top-seeded Hartford 57-46.

In their first playoff game, the Bearcats trailed early against UMBC, but were carried by the heroics of seniors Laws, Jen Haubrich and Jen Blues, who scored a combined 54 points in their first postseason victory.

“It was a monkey off our back,” said head coach Rich Conover. “The seniors really wanted to win. It was really them who pulled it out; they flat out dominated.”

With the situation looking grim, Laws took matters into her own hands, scoring 12 points in the final 44 seconds of regulation and overtime. With the team trailing by three with 27 seconds to go in regulation, Laws converted on a three-point play to send the game into overtime.

The Bearcats trailed early in the extra period, but took the lead on a Laws layup with 1:27 to go and never looked back.

Haubrich and Blues also helped in making sure the game would not be their last. Haubrich scored 18 points and was 8-for-10 from the field. Blues added 10 points and four rebounds.

The energy from the first win carried over early into the game against top-seeded Hartford the next day. The Bearcats came out with the same intensity as the Hawks, and kept the game close early. A Laws jumper with 10:52 to go in the first half gave BU its first lead of the game, but it would not last. The Bearcats kept it close until late in the first half, when their shooting went ice cold.

“I think maybe the fatigue got to us,” Conover said. “Our energy was lacking a little at the end. We came out strong, then it kind of died.”

Hartford rode their late first-half run to a seven-point halftime lead. Hartford’s relentless attack continued into the second half, where they eventually went ahead by 18 points, but the Bearcats would fire back.

Laws cut the lead to seven with 1:18 to go, converting on a three-point play, but, unlike the night before, the magic wasn’t there. Hartford hit its free throws down the stretch and put the game away en route to winning the tournament. This weekend Hartford upset sixth-seeded Temple in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

“I think Hartford beating a sixth seed is a testament to how strong the conference is,” Conover said. “It was the 11th-ranked conference out of 32 and there were three teams in the top 100 RPI. It is an extremely strong and tough conference.”

After finally gaining a postseason win in the America East, the Bearcats will now have to try to continue their winning ways without three of the most accomplished players the team has ever had.

“I think Jen, Jen and Rachel obviously were key parts of this team,” Conover said. “They’re two 1,000-point scorers and Jen Haubrich is one of the most energetic players there is. But it’s a natural progression of college basketball. But we have a lot of talent coming back. I think next year we’ll have new players emerge in new roles.”