The conference road struggles continued Saturday afternoon for the Maine womens basketball team. The Bears lost a close contest 58-52 to Binghamton at the University Events Center in Vestal, New York.
Maine saw their record drop to 11-12 overall, and 4-4 in America East play. Maine is just 1-4 in road conference games thus far, and 3-0 at home.
Neither team shot the ball well from the floor in this game. Maine held a slight 10-9 lead after one quarter of play, and a 25-24 halftime lead on a late Tanesha Sutton basket just before the second quarter buzzer.
Neither team held more than a six point lead and the game remained tight in the third quarter. Sigi Koizar would nail a three pointer at the buzzer to give Maine a 42-40 advantage headed into the final 10 minutes of action.
Both teams swapped leads in the final quarter, with a total of 17 lead changes in the contest. With Binghamton leading 53-50, Koizar made 1 for 2 at the line to make it 53-51, and then again on the next possession to make it 53-52. Maine would have a pair of turnovers in the final minute, and the Bearcats were able to ice it by hitting 5-6 from the line.
Koizar led Maine with 14 points (all in second half, 10 in third quarter). Blanca Millan had 12 points (just three in second half), five rebounds, and four steals. Maine shot just 36.7% from the floor, shot 11-18 from the free throw line, and committed 19 turnovers leading to 21 Bearcat points.
Imani Watkins came up big in the fourth quarter for Binghamton with 12 points and had a game-high 17 overall. Watkins added four assists, three steals and a block. Kai Moon added 13 points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals, and a block. The Bearcats shot 39.6% from the floor, 13-21 at the foul line, committed 13 turnovers but limited Maine to just five points off the miscues. Binghamton improved to 10-11 overall, and 5-3 in America East.
Maine will return home Wednesday night to host Vermont at the Cross Insurance Center in a game that can be seen live on ESPN 3. Binghamton hits the road Wednesday night to battle UMBC. Tipoff for both games scheduled for 7 p.m.
UME 10 15 17 10- 52
BING 9 15 16 18- 58
