There has been a theme for the women’s basketball team this season: suffer through a slow start, sink into a hole, pick up in the second, but not enough to secure a win. This afternoon’s game against Niagara was no different.

Despite scoring first, Binghamton (0-4) dragged its feet through much of the first half, allowing the Purple Eagles (1-3) to embark upon a 17-0 run that haunted the Bearcats until they dropped the match, 69-53.

“Anytime you let a team go on that kind of a run, it’s very difficult to come back from that,” BU head coach Nicole Scholl said. “I give our players credit for battling and playing through the second half, but we’ve kind of had a couple of games with slow starts and we dug ourselves into a hole, and it doesn’t allow us the chance to be in the game at the end.”

The team did, however, spur itself into enough motion to set off on a four-minute, 8-0 run to pull within 26-17. Sophomore guard Kandace Newry, who led the Bearcats in the first half with six points off the bench, ignited the spurt with a bounce pass to freshman forward Kristin Ross, who converted a layup for the team’s first points in nearly 12 minutes.

“I think what changed for us was our transition defense,” Scholl said. “They got way too many shots on the rim and on their 3-point shots, and I think once we settled into that we were able to handle it a little bit better.”

But the Purple Eagles put the brakes on BU’s drive when they took a time out with 3:45 remaining. When the clock resumed, Niagara outscored BU, 10-4, and the half ended with a 15-point disparity at 36-21.

The second half, true to form, featured a holistically more impressive performance from the Bearcats. The team shot 50 percent from the field, far above its 39.2 percent overall, led by sophomore forward Morgan Murphy’s team-high 62.5 percent on 5-of-8 shooting.

“[Murphy] had a very good second half,” Scholl said. “I think once she figured out that on the inside they were going to have a tough time defending her, she really demanded the ball a lot more than I’ve ever seen her demand the ball. And she looked to be more aggressive on the offensive end of things, and that’s something we’re going to need her to continue to do game-in and game-out.”

Murphy logged a season-high 12 points in the match to lead the Bearcats. Newry followed closely behind with 11 points, and junior forward Sherae Swinson and senior guard Stephanie Jensen rounded out Bearcat scoring with nine points apiece. Jensen, whose points came solely from beyond the arc, also collected a team-high six rebounds.

Compared to the Bearcats’ other three games this season, their 39.2-percent shooting is an improvement. In their last game against Canisius on Nov. 19, the Bearcats had put up a season-best 35.2 percent. Making the most of their opportunities is something that Scholl said the team always works on, so perhaps it’s just hard work paid off.

“It’s something we stress all the time, just for those shots that we do get, being able to knock those down,” she said. “To our players’ credit, they’re working at that and I think making that more of an emphasis. I think for us it’s just getting comfortable out there and the more experience we get, the better we’re going to be.”

With a pair of matches at New Mexico’s Thanksgiving Tournament this weekend, the team will at least get the opportunity to face off against some more competitive opponents in New Mexico and either Southeast Missouri or Arkansas, depending upon how the first match plays out. New Mexico (1-3) is currently averaging 56.5 points per game, just six points more than the Bearcats. However, New Mexico has also faced teams like No. 16 Colorado.

“There’s going to be tough competition down there,” Scholl said. “I honestly haven’t looked much at tape yet — we’re kind of focusing on one game at a time — but it will be good experience for us, playing against a high level of competition, and just going down there and competing.”

Tipoff against New Mexico is set for 7 p.m. on Nov. 29 at Davalos Basketball Center in Albuquerque, N.M. BU’s second match is set for Nov. 30, with the time to be decided.