Two road games in three days is a challenge for most college basketball teams. Add taking on tough competition and fielding a depleted roster to that challenge, and you have the formidable task that the Binghamton women’s basketball team faced this weekend. The Bearcats (1-5) dropped contests against Big East-foe St. John’s and in-state rival St. Bonaventure, extending their losing streak to four.

“We put up a good fight,” Binghamton head coach Linda Cimino said. “I was very proud of the girls, the way that they fought and never gave up.”

Binghamton struggled to keep a stronger St. John’s (5-0) team out of the paint in the first half on Friday, allowing 16 points with 11 second-chance opportunities. BU’s freshman backcourt tandem of Jasmine Sina and Imani Watkins kept the Bearcats competitive, however. Sina poured in 11 points, including three 3-pointers, while Watkins added six points in the period. Binghamton attempted 13 fewer shots than the Red Storm, but headed into the locker room down by only 11 points, at 35-24.

Sina and Watkins carried their hot starts into the second half. The two combined for 21 of the Bearcats’ 27 points in the period. However, BU continued to struggle against a deep St. John’s team. The Red Storm dominated the glass, scoring 10 points off of offensive boards. Binghamton was unable to shave the deficit to fewer than 11 points, and ultimately fell, 67-51. In the game, Sina finished with a career-high 20 points. Watkins added 18.

“Against St. John’s we battled and I think we surprised them and kept the game close,” Cimino said. “It was like a three-possession game the whole way. I thought we played hard.”

The Bearcats continued their road trip on Sunday, now against St. Bonaventure (4-2). The two teams battled early in the first half. Bonnies junior forward Katie Healy scored seven points in the opening 10 minutes to give her team a 14-11 advantage. But back-to-back 3-pointers by junior guard Kim Albrecht and Sina swung the score in BU’s favor, granting the visitors a one-point lead. That would be the last lead the Bearcats would hold all game, as St. Bonaventure ended the half on an 18-6 run to jump ahead, 35-24, by halftime.

“That four minutes going into halftime, we are kind of giving up some points,” Cimino said. “I think that if we fix that we are going to be okay.”

Binghamton struggled in the second half, allowing the Bonnies to score 37 points. Healy was a force for the Bonnies, scoring 11 points in the period while knocking down five of six from the free-throw line. Bonnies sophomore forward Gabby Richmond paced Healy, adding 10 in the half and propelling St. Bonaventure to a 72-54 victory.

“[On Sunday] we ran out of gas a little bit,” Cimino said. “We haven’t been giving up and I think that says a lot about our character. We keep playing hard and we don’t give up.”

One bright spot for the Bearcats was Albrecht, who finished the game with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists. Albrecht is currently averaging 11.3 points per game, exactly six more than she averaged last season.

BU is set to return to action on Saturday at NJIT. Tip-off is set for noon at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center in Newark, New Jersey.