As the America East regular season begins to wind down, the Binghamton University women’s basketball team finds themselves in need of wins to stay in the top half of the conference. The Bearcats look to find the panacea to their problem on Saturday when they welcome the University of Maine to the Events Center for a matinee matchup.

The Bearcats (10-15, 5-7 AE) are coming off a last second 76-75 overtime loss to first place Boston University at the Events Center on Wednesday night.

It has been a rough February for the Bearcats, who have a 1-4 record this month, with three of the losses coming at the hands of Vermont, Hartford and Boston University, the three conference leaders who have only lost conference games among themselves.

The Bearcats also caught the injury bug the past month, with freshman Orla O’Reilly missing five games after injuring her wrist at UMBC on Jan. 24, and junior Muffy Sadler and senior Laura Franceski missing games after sustaining injuries in practice.

In the absence of Sadler and Franceski, freshmen Andrea Holmes and Viive Rebane have stepped up their roles for the Bearcats, and their work has been noticed. Holmes was named America East Rookie of the Week on Feb. 9, while Rebane received the honor on Feb. 16.

But Binghamton could be back at full strength for Saturday’s game, as Franceski and O’Reilly have returned to action this past week, and Sadler was a game time decision for Boston University and could be ready for the Maine game.

Maine (4-21, 2-10 AE) comes into Vestal in eighth place in the America East, but the Black Bears have won two of their past three games. The one problem for Maine is they have not won a road game (0-13 road) this season.

Still, Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl stresses Maine will not be overlooked.

“This is a team we can definitely not take lightly coming in,” Scholl said. “Up there [at Orono], their 1-2-2 zone gave us a bit of problems, so that’s something we’re definitely going to have to work on.”

Junior forward Brittany Boser is the Black Bears’ premier player. She leads Maine with a 10.8 scoring average and a .456 shooting percentage, and has 5.2 rebounds per game. Boser also leads Maine in blocks and is very dangerous from the free-throw line, averaging .847 from the charity stripe, tops in the America East.

In the first meeting between the two teams on Jan. 31 in Orono, Binghamton shot 67 percent from the field in the second half to pick up the 62-49 road victory. Franceski recorded a near triple-double for the Bearcats, scoring 22 points, 11 rebounds and a career high eight blocks.

The key for the Bearcats will be to contain Boser, Maine’s top scoring threat, and to build upon the strong team effort against Boston University on Wednesday, when all nine players who entered the game for the Bearcats recorded points.

“It showed we could play with the top team in the conference, and I think that gives us confidence for our next four games coming up before the conference tournament,” Scholl said.

Game time is Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Events Center. All Binghamton University undergrads receive free entry upon showing a student ID.