By: Cameron Cupp
The University at Albany women’s basketball team (8-15, 4-6 AE) lost their second straight game to the Binghamton Bearcats(16-6, 5-4 AE), an America East rival, by a score of 58-42.
With this loss, the Bearcats snapped UAlbany’s 21-game win streak against them.
UAlbany was led by Helene Haegerstrand, who scored a career-high 16 points, and tacked on eight rebounds as well. Amanda Kantzy led the team with nine rebounds.
Binghamton’s all-conference senior, Kai Moon, trounced the Great Dane defense, putting up a game-high 23 points.
Far more impressive than any other statistic for the Bearcats, was the number of UAlbany turnovers they forced. Binghamton racked up 22 takeaways in total, 16 of them coming by way of a steal.
“We did a good job defensively because we did not want Albany to get any open, easy looks,” Binghamton Head Coach Bethann Shapiro Ord said. “We got 16 steals tonight and applied a lot of pressure to make things happen."
The Great Danes have turned the ball over 43 times in their past two games.
The game started off rather well for UAlbany, as they jumped out to a slim 6-4 lead. However, Binghamton went on to score 12 unanswered points, and then another nine unanswered, extending their lead to 25-8, with 6:28 left to play in the first half.
In the second half, the Great Danes made things more interesting by cutting the enormous deficit they faced down to 30-24.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Great Danes only trailed the Bearcats 40-33. Binghamton however, would solidify their lead, scoring seven straight points after UAlbany opened the quarter with the first score.
Although UAlbany guard Kyara Frames hit a late shot to bring her team closer to a comeback win, it would not be enough to overcome the Bearcat lead.
After a recent stretch of away games, UAlbany will return to SEFCU Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 12, to take on Hartford in another America East showdown.