Saturday night, the Binghamton University women’s basketball team will try for its second-consecutive win when it travels to Bethlehem, Penn. to battle the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.
Following two tough losses out west to Northern Arizona and Central Michigan, the Bearcats are coming off a 63-61 bounce-back win over Army. Junior point guard Andrea Holmes led the way on Wednesday with an 18-point effort, while freshman Jasbriell Swain recorded her third double-double this season. The Bearcats let a 12-point lead slip away from them in the second half, but were able to scrape out a win to improve to 3-3.
With four players in double figures, the Bearcats had Army on its toes all night.
“It really does make a difference,” said Binghamton head coach Nicole Scholl. “They can’t just key in on Andrea or Jasbriell … So if we can keep that going, I think it’ll help us down the stretch.”
A major improvement in the Bearcats’ approach was cutting down on turnovers. The team only committed 13 turnovers against Army, compared to 21 and 24 turnovers in the two games in Northern Arizona.
“Coach talked a lot about remaining composed under pressure and in clutch situations,” Holmes said. “Tonight, I think we were very successful in taking care of the ball. Most of our unforced turnovers came when Army rushed us a little bit, but we were able to limit those situations and I think we did an excellent job of staying under control and remaining composed.”
Meanwhile, Lehigh will try to defend its home court for its third-consecutive win. Its current two-game win streak includes a game in which it held Howard University to only 29 points — the fewest points allowed by the Mountain Hawks in 30 years — and a defensive battle that sent Lehigh and opposing team Saint Joseph’s into halftime with a combined 26 points on the scoreboard.
Despite picking up the win, Lehigh will have plenty of room to improve upon after their Wednesday win against Saint Joseph’s. The Mountain Hawks shot a meager 18 percent (4-of-22) from the floor over the first 20 minutes and committed 24 turnovers. Still, the squad showed resiliency down the stretch and came away with the win.
Binghamton will have to keep an eye on Lehigh’s top scorer, senior Erica Prosser, who led her team with 16 points on Wednesday. Senior Courtney Dentler is another threat that will have to be kept in check. She pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds on Wednesday and is averaging 11.5 points and 6.5 rebounds on the season.
Tip-off is scheduled at 7 p.m. Saturday at Lehigh University.