On Saturday, the Binghamton women’s basketball team continued its string of conference games with its first America East (AE) win at UMBC. The Bearcats broke a six-game losing streak in a dominating performance, only losing the lead once and riding out their offensive pressure to earn a 67-44 win over the Retrievers.

“We’re still a work in progress, but we took care of business in the second half which we needed to do,” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “I thought the girls came out at halftime focused on taking care of the little things which are being disciplined on defense and on offense. We made the adjustments and I was really proud of them, they played really well together.”

It was a closely contested first half for BU (5-10, 1-4 AE) with the first two quarters ending in a 29-29 deadlock. However, the Bearcats picked up the pace in the second half, outscoring UMBC (1-14, 0-5 AE) in the third quarter. BU sustained its lead into the final quarter outscoring the Retrievers 18-10. Binghamton added six steals and 25 points off of turnovers for the game, which helped complete its 23-point victory.

“Our defense really propelled our offense,” Shapiro Ord said. “We got a lot of second-chance opportunities. We were able to convert off of our defense which was great. We scored 25 points on their turnovers, and that was a big part of it.”

The biggest offensive contributor for Binghamton was junior forward Birna Benonysdottir who scored 20 points on nine of 16 shooting. Benonysdottir, who leads the conference overall in scoring at 16.8 points per game, came into the game after an 18-point performance against Hartford.

“[Benonysdottir] just let the game come to her,” Shapiro Ord said. “I thought she did a tremendous job of knocking down shots when she could, she drove to the basket, she had a really nice game.”

Junior guard Denai Bowman contributed to the scoring effort as well providing 17 points. Bowman, a Maryland native, entered the game third for scoring in the conference overall with 13.8 points per game. She joined Benonysdottir as Binghamton’s two primary forces on both sides of the court.

“It was a homecoming for [Bowman], we had a big crowd for her because she’s from that area and she did a great job,” said Shapiro Ord. “Not only does she score but she does all the little things. She had six assists, two turnovers, four steals. She really really got our defense going.”

BU took control on both sides of the court shooting 49.1 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three and outscoring the Retrievers 25-6 on points off turnovers. With senior guard Hayley Moore adding another 13 points to the tally, the Bearcats had three players scoring in double digits.

The victory over UMBC was Binghamton’s first conference win of the season, placing them eighth in the AE standings after an 0-4 start.

“We played the top teams in the league the first few games, so really just trying to get our feet under ourselves and get into shape,” said Shapiro Ord. “Every game we were right in there, so I think for them to see this win and the way we played, I think we’re gonna keep getting better.”

The Bearcats return home to play Albany on Monday, Jan. 31. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.