After recording a 73-65 win last week against St. Bonaventure at home, the Binghamton women’s basketball team was defeated 66-59 by Navy on the road on Tuesday night. After outscoring the Midshipmen 20-8 in the first quarter, the Bearcats held a six-point advantage going into halftime. However, the Midshipmen sparked a comeback in the third quarter and ultimately emerged victorious on their home floor, in a seven-point victory, over BU.

“We just needed to be a little bit tougher,” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “I know we got some turnovers and scored out of them which is great, but we needed to do it more and we needed to be more aggressive.”

Binghamton (2-3) got the scoring started early in the first quarter when graduate student guard Denai Bowman made a jump shot. Then a Navy (2-2) turnover found its way into the hands of junior forward Genevieve Coleman, who made a layup to give BU a 4-0 lead. The Midshipmen responded with a layup of their own to get on the board themselves. Then, both teams exchanged baskets until the 11-8 mark. From there, the Bearcats went on a 9-0 run, ending the period with a 20-8 advantage over Navy.

“You need a lot of good spacing to get good offense,” Shapiro Ord said. “That’s what we were doing really well in the first quarter … We were getting buckets and we were really seeing each other and getting a lot of the ball [and] shifting the defense.”

The Midshipmen strung together a 6-0 run to begin the second quarter but two layups, courtesy of Bowman and redshirt sophomore guard Jadyn Weltz helped the Bearcats maintain a 10-point lead. With the score at 28-16, the Navy scored seven unanswered points to cut the Binghamton lead to five. After some more back-and-forth play to end the period, BU maintained a slight advantage, entering halftime leading 33-27.

“Defensively, we needed to be tougher,” Shapiro Ord said. “We weren’t flowing. Our offense [was] just hitting one side, and we were taking some shots that weren’t necessarily there. They were a little too quick, and we weren’t hitting. We weren’t really trying to spread their offense out.”

Both teams traded layups to open the third quarter as tensions began to rise. BU quickly recorded four turnovers in just under four minutes and struggled to knock down shots, allowing Navy to tie the game at 35. Two free throws from Weltz helped Binghamton regain the lead once again. The Bearcats’ lead was short-lived as the Midshipmen went on a 10-0 run to gain a 47-37 lead. Coleman stopped the bleeding with a layup to make it an eight-point game. To end the period, Navy knocked down a jump shot right as the buzzer went off as Binghamton found itself trailing 49-42 heading into the final period.

“We weren’t getting some good spacing which led to us not being very tough with the ball,” Shapiro Ord said. “That’s why they got 21 turnovers [and] scored 21 times. I think we were just trying to make some passes, and it [just] wasn’t spread.”

The Midshipmen got on the board first in the fourth quarter with four straight points. The Bearcats eventually responded with a three-pointer from redshirt sophomore guard Ella Wanzer. Both teams fought for the ball and exchanged points as the Bearcats looked to cut into the Navy lead. Bowman drained a jump shot to make it an eight-point game, but the Midshipmen continued to make shots, maintaining its lead. When it was all said and done, BU suffered a 66-59 defeat.

Four Bearcats scored in double figures with Wanzer leading the team on offense with 17 points. Coleman and Weltz each added 13 points. Lastly, Bowman tallied 11 points and four rebounds in the losing effort.

“I thought [Wanzer] did a nice job with scoring,” Shapiro Ord said. “She could have had a few more … 17 is still pretty good, but of course, we needed to score a lot more than that.”

Binghamton will face off against Appalachian State in the Puerto Rico College Sports Tours Classico on Friday, Nov. 24. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. at the Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum in Puerto Rico.