After downing UMass Lowell this past Wednesday, the Binghamton women’s basketball team found itself on the other side of a blowout on Sunday, falling to the Maine Black Bears, 95-66. Despite some individually strong performances, the Bearcats (8-12, 3-4 America East) could not find a way to stop Maine’s overpowering offense led by its star player, junior guard Blanca Millan.
The Black Bears (13-7, 6-1 AE) came out strong early, surging to a 14-4 lead part way through the first quarter. Enduring the early push, Binghamton was able to bring the game to within four points. Every time it seemed like Maine would run away with the game in the first half, the Bearcats managed to claw their way back into contention. Maine’s largest lead in the half was 13 points, but BU trimmed the deficit to nine points heading into the break.
The second half was another story. Maine quickly found a way to widen the advantage and keep it, not surrendering any room to BU for a comeback. Millan led much of the third quarter charge, tacking on 10 points in that period alone. The leading scorer in the AE, she finished the game with 29 points on 11-of-19 shooting and six boards.
“They have a great team, and Millan is a pro player,” said BU head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “She’s special and there’s a reason she can score the way she scores and she just lit us up.”
Maine outscored Binghamton 35-18 in the third and never let up, winning 95-66. Maine is now the third team to score over 90 points against the Bearcats this season.
“That’s a really good question,” Shapiro Ord said after being asked what went wrong in the third quarter. “They just did a really good job and they were getting down the floor, and we weren’t going as hard as we should’ve been going.”
Throughout the game, Maine proved dominant in rebounds, assists and offensive efficiency, but there were still some good signs coming from the Bearcats. Senior forward Rebecca Carmody posted her second consecutive double-double for Binghamton, tallying 10 points along with 11 rebounds after totaling 13 points with 10 rebounds against UMass Lowell. Before entering the game on Sunday, Carmody was already leading the team in most major categories. She is averaging 13.1 points and eight rebounds per game this year and leads the AE in rebounding. The game also marked the second game in a row which Binghamton posted more assists than turnovers.
Another high point for the Bearcats was junior guard Kai Moon’s team-leading 15-point performance. Moon’s significant output since returning from her injury is an encouraging sign for Binghamton, but the team needs to improve to be able to put up a fight against its next opponent, the rising Hartford Hawks, who are in first place in the AE and coming off of a blowout win over Albany, 82-35.
The Bearcats take on the Hawks at 7 p.m. this Wednesday, Jan. 30 at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.