Carrying a four-game losing streak into the weekend, the Binghamton women’s basketball team hopes for a positive result when it heads to New Jersey Institute of Technology for a Saturday matchup. Despite their skid, the Bearcats have competed against top-tier programs this season, and the team remains positive and upbeat moving forward.
“We’re losing, but our locker room doesn’t feel like we’re losing because we’re competing,” BU head coach Linda Cimino said. “My goal has been that we get better every day and that we compete everyday … Even though our record doesn’t indicate it, I think we’re a pretty good 1-5 team right now.”
That the team is competing is evident by the weekly awards its players have accrued. For the third consecutive week, a Binghamton (1-5) freshman captured the America East Rookie of the Week award. After guard Imani Watkins earned the honors in the first two weeks of the season, teammate Jasmine Sina garnered the most recent accolade, scoring 20 points with five 3-pointers against St. John’s on Friday. Sina currently ranks ninth in the nation in 3-point field goals made per game.
“It was an honor getting Rookie of the Week,” Sina said. “Obviously if it wasn’t for my teammates and coaches I wouldn’t have gotten it. I think it’s a great step for the program … It shows that we’re going to keep improving, keep getting better and our freshmen are ready to play.”
Cimino echoed that sentiment and added praise for the freshman standout.
“Jasmine has thrived on and off the court,” Cimino said. “She’s not just a scorer — she’s an actual point guard. She’s smart, she has a high basketball IQ, she studies the game, she loves talking the game and I think that’s a foundation to build around for the future.”
Thus far, BU has competed against teams from the Big East and Atlantic 10 conferences — two of the top in the nation. Although the Bearcats have struggled to capture victories so far this season, they view facing tough opponents as a learning opportunity.
“I know that we’re giving our hardest and we’re getting better each game,” Sina said. “I think we’re playing the best against Big East schools. I think that’s a good test to see how we’re doing. [Losing] does get to us, but I think it’s going to help us in the long run this season.”
NJIT (4-4) heads into the weekend on a hot streak. The Highlanders have won three of their last four games and are led by senior guard Alyssa Albanese, who is averaging 11.4 points per game, and sophomore forward Leah Horton, who is averaging a second-best 11.1 points per game as well as 8.4 rebounds per contest.
“[NJIT] has a win streak,” Cimino said. ”They’re playing good basketball, but so are we. We’re just not getting the results we want, but we’re still playing good basketball. This weekend we want to win. We want to do all the right things — which we’ve been doing; we want to compete — which we’ve been doing; and now we want the end result. We want to win.”
Tip-off is scheduled for noon on Saturday at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center in Newark, New Jersey.