In the second quarter of the Binghamton women’s basketball game against Vermont, the Bearcats went on a 16-0 run to pull away from the Catamounts and secure a 76-53 victory. After battling for the lead in the first quarter, Binghamton (17-8, 6-6 America East) distanced itself from its competitor and Vermont (12-14, 6-7 AE) never caught up. Binghamton is now 10-2 at home.
“They took care of each other,” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “One person might have had a miss on defense or a missed shot and somebody else picked them up and that’s what made it so much fun. I can’t reiterate enough how happy I am for this team.”
The Bearcats held Vermont’s top scorer, senior forward Hanna Crymble, to just nine points. The Binghamton defense doubled up on Crymble and she was only able to score two points in the first half off of just two shot attempts. Last time Binghamton played Vermont, Crymble scored 32 points for the Catamounts.
“[Crymble] is a heck of a player,” said senior guard Kai Moon. “Since she’s come into the league, she’s been super talented and dominant in the post. What she was able to do the last time we played them was remarkable, so we knew coming in we had to readjust our defensive strategy in terms of how we played her. We double-teamed her in the post, and we just tried to keep the ball out of her hands as much as possible. We know a great player like that is going to make plays at some point, but if we can limit that as much as possible, then that’s what we’d like to do.”
There were four Bearcats in double figures for the game: Moon, senior guard Carly Boland, junior forward Olivia Ramil and freshman guard Denai Bowman. Moon led the team with 21 points, the 16th time this season she has scored 20 or more points in a game. Boland contributed 12 points and five rebounds, while Ramil and Bowman each scored 10 points.
“[Bowman] does just about everything you can do and ask for out of a freshman and then some with her poise and her confidence as a ball handler,” Moon said. “[She] guards the team’s best player every game. I mean, that’s huge.”
Shapiro Ord was able to put in all of her active players, resulting in 21 points coming from the bench. Junior forward Kaylee Wasco contributed seven points, while freshman guard Cassidy Roberts and freshman guard Clare Traeger had two points apiece.
Freshman forward Delaney Richason led the Catamounts with 12 points, followed by sophomore guard Sarah Wells, who had 10.
The Bearcats out-rebounded the Catamounts 40-23, and Binghamton had 16 offensive rebounds compared to Vermont’s two. They were up by as many as 36 points in the fourth quarter. Boland said the team had its best defensive performance of the season.
“We harp on defense every game,” Boland said. “Today we guarded the person that we really needed to. Our help was great, and I thought we rotated well.”
Last time the Bearcats took on Vermont, Binghamton lost by just three points.
“[Last game] we got into some foul trouble early,” Shapiro Ord said. “We didn’t have Wasco, who was tremendous today. [Sophomore forward] Annie [Ramil] got into some foul trouble even though she was doing great in the beginning, but just having to sit so much, it was inconsistent as far being able to be out there and getting a flow, but now we’re home and we have our fans and our support.”
The Bearcats hope to take their momentum into Wednesday night when they take on UMass Lowell. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Costello Athletic Center in Lowell, Massachusetts.