On Nov. 19, the Binghamton University women’s basketball team arrived at Williams Arena in Minnesota for the Subway Classic, looking to continue its fast 2-0 start to the season. After falling to host University of Minnesota 65-40, the Bearcats defeated the University of Nevada 58-52 to finish in third out of four teams at the tournament. Binghamton then returned home on Saturday and fell to Syracuse University, 90-57.
In the first game of the Subway Classic, Binghamton led Minnesota 19-16 through the first 12 minutes of play. From there, the Golden Gophers went on a 20-3 run to head into the locker room with a 36-22 lead. The Bearcats would get within nine points after a field goal from senior guard Andrea Holmes two minutes into the second half, but a 14-6 spurt by Minnesota over the next five minutes all but knocked Binghamton out of the game.
Holmes, senior forward Viive Rebane and senior guard Orla O’Reilly each finished with double-digit point totals, while junior forward Kara Elofson collected 10 rebounds.
In the consolation game against Nevada, O’Reilly led all scorers with 19 points, hitting two clutch 3-pointers at pivotal points in the game to propel Binghamton to the win. With 8:39 left in the second half, O’Reilly drained a 3-pointer to give the Bearcats a 41-33 lead. Then, with less than 30 seconds to play and the score in Binghamton’s favor at 51-50, she hit another three to give Binghamton some breathing room.
Sophomore forward Jasbriell Swain had seven points and four steals while Holmes added 13 points. Rebane notched her second double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Coming off a split in Minnesota, the Bearcats had five days to prepare for the undefeated Orange, their biggest challenge of the season thus far. Behind Syracuse sophomore forward Kayla Alexander’s career-high 33 points and sophomore guard La’Shay Taft’s 22 points, the Orange defeated Binghamton 90-57.
Syracuse, now 5-0, proved to be too much of a presence down low, out-rebounding the Bearcats 51-30. Three different Syracuse players pulled down 10 rebounds, including Alexander, who tallied a double-double.
Binghamton led Syracuse 10-2 through the first five minutes of play and would hold the lead until 7:41 remained in the first half. From there, the Orange went on an 8-0 run and never looked back.
Despite a 48-31 deficit at the break, the Bearcats continued to fight in the second and started the frame on a 10-4 run. Syracuse would soon put the game on ice, however, with a 19-6 run in the ensuing seven minutes to build its lead to 71-47 with 10:03 to play.
Rebane had a season-high 17 points and posted her third double-double of the season en route to being named America East Player of the Game. Swain also had a season-high in points (12) and O’Reilly chipped in with 11 points.
Holmes, who has been recovering from an offseason knee surgery, played at least 36 minutes in each of the week’s three games, including a full 40 minutes against Syracuse.
“I was pleased with what our players were able to do,” head coach Nicole Scholl said, following the loss to Syracuse. “Following the scouting report, the one thing we saw with Syracuse coming in here is they haven’t shot the three particularly well up until this point and we were going to give that up and try and focus a little more on the inside. Unfortunately, they were knocking down the 3-point shots and it forced us to play out a little bit more and then they started throwing the ball inside. It was just one of those days where you kind of had to pick your poison and neither one of them worked for us.”
Scholl said she is happy with her team’s efforts in recent matchups.
“I’ve been very pleased on how we’ve started the games and started halves,” she said. “I think our players come out, they’re ready and focused and we’ve got a group of players this year that honestly, it doesn’t matter who comes into our gym or who we play because we’re going to play as hard as we can for as long as we can.”
Binghamton is set to travel to Ithaca for a 7 p.m. tip-off tomorrow night against Cornell University.