Things are looking up for Rich Conover’s Binghamton University women’s basketball team.
Despite an overall rough season recording 6-13, the Bearcats have opened America East play with a 4-1 record and are just a half game out of first place.
‘This is more representing of what we expected this season,’ Conover said. ‘We have had a lot of unfortunate games, but this is where we wanted to be in the conference.’
The Bearcats had struggled on the court defensively in the beginning of the season; however, they now believe that they are getting much better.
‘Both the individual and team defense have improved dramatically,’ Conover said. ‘[It is] all a matter of keeping focused.’
The team started its season with a string of five losses before its first win over La Salle, but those are in the past.
Binghamton opened its winter break with a 74-26 destruction of Colgate on Dec. 16; it was the largest margin of victory and fewest points allowed in Binghamton University Division I history.
‘We played a great game,’ said Conover. ‘Colgate struggled in the beginning of the first half and we were able to widen the lead out because of it.’
The game put the spotlight on many Bearcats, including sophomore Erica Carter, who achieved the first double-double of her career, and senior center Laine Kurpniece, who donned a career high of five assists in the game.
The Bearcats seemed to revert back to bad fortune after their successful game against the Raiders, collapsing in three straight games against Lehigh, St. Bonaventure and Cornell.
‘Those games were definitely a snakebite [to us],’ Conover said. ‘I think we did [not] do what we needed to win them.’
With a plethora of losses, it seemed as if the team left its fans wondering if the season was a lost cause, but Conover and his Bearcats showed otherwise. Binghamton broke open its first America East conference game of the season and defeated Boston University, 59-55.
‘It was just one of those must-win situations,’ Conover said. ‘It was great to come home into our first conference game of the season and win it.’
The Bearcats continued to show the same assertiveness in the conference games that followed beating both University of Maryland-Baltimore County and New Hampshire. The rally against the Retrievers, the defending conference champions, was the team’s first road win, on Jan. 16. Binghamton went on a 22-2 run in the first half with a span of less than 10 minutes adding to the 31-16 tally in the first half. UMBC tried to close in on the gap in the second half; however, the Bearcats prevailed, 65-58.
‘Our team played with great defensive intensity and pressure, and because of that we came out [of the game] well,’ Conover said. ‘It was a big win for us.’
On Jan. 19, the Bearcats took down New Hampshire, 82-74. Senior Laura Sario added a season-high 20 points while Kurpniece scored 16. With the victory, the Bearcats notched their best start in the conference games since the 2005-06 season and scored the most points since its 84-49 win against Vermont in March 2006.
The Bearcats ended the winter break games going up against Hartford; however, they fell to the Hawks 62-45. Still, the loss was not a complete disappointment.
‘I thought we played a very good first half,’ Conover said. ‘We placed a good representative effort and went on a 19-0 run in the second half to even up the score.’
If that was not enough, Kurpniece reached career high 1,000 points in the game against Hartford becoming the 10th player in program history to do so. She is the third Binghamton player to reach the milestone while playing all four years at the NCAA Division I level.
The Bearcats bounced back on Saturday, pulverizing Stony Brook 59-35.
Despite having a tough season, it seems as if Bearcats have saved their best play for the conference games. Confidence remains key.
‘We really are just taking it one game at a time,’ Conover said. ‘People are really excited to see our progress, and we hope that we will be able to put our hard work on the court.’
The Bearcats will head up to Albany to face the Great Danes in a conference game on Wednesday.