Maines Fanny Wadling tries to win the opening tip against Binghamtons Alyssa James during their America East battle in Bangor on Saturday, January 6, 2018. Photo by Chris Lessner.
BANGOR, Me- Imani Watkins scored a game high 23 points, as well as five of her teams seven overtime points to lead the Binghamton Bearcats to a 66-62 overtime win over Maine in America East womens basketball action Saturday at the Cross Insurance Center in front 1,282 fans.
Maine (8-7, 1-1 America East), held the lead the entire first half. The Bears led by as many as eight in the first quarter behind five points each from Blanca Millan and Fanny Wadling. They built the lead twice to as many as nine in the second quarter, before two baskets late from Binghamton forward Rebecca Carmody and one from Alyssa James made it 32-29 at the half.
Binghamton (10-4, 1-0), continued the run to 8-0 when freshman guard Jasmine Sina sank a jumpshot early in the third quarter. The Bearcats took their first lead at 36-35 with five minutes to go in the third when Kai Moon sank a three pointer. Maine fell behind by four, until Millan and Julie Brosseau sparked a Black Bear run. Millan nailed a three pointer, Wadling finished off a layup off a nice give and go with Tanesha Sutton, and Brosseau nailed a jumper and then a three pointer to give Maine a 47-41 lead at the end of the third with the 10-0 run.
Maine kept the lead or was tied for a good portion of the fourth, until a pair of free throws from James and a Carmody bucket made it 53-49 Binghamton. The Bears responded with a three from Brosseau, a Millan basket, and another Brosseau three pointer to make it 57-53. A Moon jumper cut it to 57-55, before Watkins tied it with a slashing layup. Millan posted up and made a layup to regain a 59-57 Maine lead, before Carmody made a steal on the next Black Bears possession and went the length of the floor to it 59-59 with a minute to go. Both teams had possessions in the final minute, including a Millan shot in the paint with five seconds to play that wouldn’t go, sending the game to overtime.
Wadling opened up the extra session by banking in a three pointer for the only Maine overtime points, before Watkins scored a basket and nailed a pair of foul shots to make it 63-62 Bearcats with 58.9 seconds left. James layup just as shot clock expired made it 65-62 Binghamton. Millan had a look at a tying three pointer with 10 seconds left, but fell short, and Watkins made one of two from line with six seconds left to give Binghamton the big road win.
Watkins added five rebounds. Moon had 14 points, seven rebounds, and three steals, while Carmody added 12 points, five rebounds, two assists, and four steals. Binghamton shot 37 percent from the floor, and committed 19 turnovers. Binghamton head coach Linda Cimino said, “We have never won in Maine. This is a really good feeling. Maine is a really good team, they have two of the top players in our league, and they just run their stuff really well. I am just so proud that we were able to execute defensively when we needed to and get some big stops when we needed to. We had some big rebounds and I am just really proud of our kids. Imani came through with some foul shots and layups, and Rebeccas steal and layup was huge. Just a huge team effort, great win, I am really proud of our kids.” Binghamton has now won six games in a row.
Millan led Maine with 21 points. Brosseau had 20, five rebounds, and three assists. Wadling chipped in 12 points, eight rebounds, and two assists. Maine shot 38 percent from the field, and committed 25 turnovers leading to a 24-17 advantage for the visitors. Maine head coach Amy Vachon said, “Credit to Binghamton. I thought they made the plays they had to down the stretch. James had a big layup there. I thought we kept her in check all game, then she hit that big shot. We really hurt ourselves. 25 turnovers is alot of turnovers to have. And alot of them were due to us, not unforced. I thought Blanca did an outstanding job on Watkins. If you have to take 30 shots to get 23 points, that’s alot of shots and I will take that any day. They (Binghamton) is a senior team, they made plays when they had to make them, and we will just have to learn from it.” Maine had beaten Binghamton 10 of the last 11 times prior to Saturday.
Maine continues conference play when they travel to UMBC Wednesday for an 11 a.m. tipoff with the Retrievers.
BIN 15 14 12 18 7- 66
UME 18 14 15 12 3- 62
