Coming off a 70-65 win on the road, the Binghamton women’s basketball team made it two straight, downing UNH 73-63. After a strong start in the first quarter, in which the Bearcats put up 22 points, they kept the momentum to win their second consecutive game in America East (AE) conference play.

“We shared the basketball, we attacked their pressure [and] we attacked their different defenses,” said Binghamton head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. “We just kept them on their heels instead of letting them, which they typically do — put people on their heels — so I thought we did a nice job with that.”

Binghamton (7-12, 2-4 AE) opened scoring a few seconds after tipoff with a three-pointer from redshirt sophomore guard Ella Wanzer off an assist from junior forward Genevieve Coleman. UNH (8-12, 2-5 AE) quickly responded with a jump shot of its own. BU stayed hot and took control of the remainder of the first with a 10-0 run that made it 18-4. With two minutes remaining, UNH knocked down three jumpers to cut the Bearcats’ lead to 22-13.

“It was a really great team effort, but it was nice to see [Wanzer] have that first shot go in,” Shapiro Ord said. “The whole staff, I don’t know if you saw the bench, but they went pretty nuts over there.”

The Wildcats were the first to get on the board in the second quarter, scoring the first four points. Graduate student guard Denai Bowman stopped the UNH run with a layup to put BU up 24-17. Points were exchanged between the two teams as UNH looked to crawl back into the game. However, Binghamton went on a nine-point run to extend its lead to 35-21. The Bearcats maintained their lead for the rest of the quarter, heading into halftime up 44-28.

“You always have adversity, and it’s how you handle the adversity, and we never give up,” Shapiro Ord said. “This group of young ladies have been tremendous in practice every day, coming in and just battling each other. Whether [it’s] their starters or the backup players, they compete, and that’s what keeps getting us better.”

BU came out strong to start the second half, with a layup by Coleman and another three from Wanzer to take a 49-28 lead. Although the Wildcats made several attempts to get back into the game, the Bearcats stopped them in their tracks — maintaining a double digit lead. The third period ended with Binghamton taking 21-point lead over New Hampshire, with the score at 67-46.

“They are amazing, my point guards,” Coleman said. “I cannot say enough good words about [them]. They find me, and they give me these passes that I don’t even know how the heck get to me sometimes. They played great tonight, finding me at all points of the floor, so I really do appreciate that, and they keep doing that and taking points themselves as well.”

The scoring slowed down to begin the fourth quarter with the UNH getting on the board five minutes in the half. Not long after, freshman guard Kaylee Krysztof drained a three pointer off a pass from sophomore guard Meghan Casey, who had a game-high nine assists to make it a 70-50 game. Then, UNH gained some momentum and went on an eight-point uninterrupted run to make cut the BU lead to 12. However, the Wildcats’ comeback fell short as the Bearcats earned a 73-63 victory.

Wanzer led the team with 24 points and is now ranks eighth all-time in Binghamton program history with 131 three-point field goals. Behind her was Coleman with 19 points. Leading the team in assists was Casey with nine and Weltz with eight. Lastly, sophomore guard/forward Camryn Fauria added a game high eight boards.

“It’s nice to have, knock on wood, pretty much all of us healthy, and they do a really nice job of taking care of each other,” Shapiro Ord said. “It’s a testament to these young ladies that they keep coming in and working really hard.”

The Bearcats will look to keep the ball rolling as they take on Maine on Saturday, Jan. 27. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center in Vestal, New York.