Women’s basketball team rallies for victory

Junior guard Jasbriell Swain finished with eight points, a season-high 16 rebounds, six assists and three steals, leading Binghamton (2-12, 1-0 AE) to a 46-44 victory over Hartford (9-5, 0-1 AE) in an America East women’s basketball game on Jan. 2 at the Events Center. The victory marked the third straight year that the Bearcats have won their conference opener.

Binghamton stormed back from an 11-point deficit in the second half to record their second straight win over the Hawks. In the final 20 minutes of play, Swain scored six of her points and grabbed eight of her rebounds.

“This is a very big win for our program,” head coach Nicole Scholl said. “We talked a lot about playing a complete 40 minutes and I am very proud of our players and coaching staff.”

Other Binghamton heroes included sophomore forward Sherae Swinson, who netted a team-high 11 points, and junior guard Stephanie Jensen, who nailed three field goals from beyond the arc to finish with nine points.

Hartford appeared to take control of the game with a 7-0 blitz in a span of 1:35 to go up 31-20 with 13:53 remaining in regulation.  Binghamton, however, responded with a 15-4 run to tie the game at 35-35 with 6:23 left to go. Jensen tied the game with her final three pointer of the game.

Back-to-back three pointers by Shanise Burton and Alyssa Englert gave the Hawks a 41-37 lead with 5:37 left to go.  Once again, however, the Bearcats stormed back with a 7-2 run to go up 44-42 with 2:48 remaining in regulation. Swain capped the run with a jumper that gave Binghamton the lead for good.

Binghamton was clinging to a 45-44 lead with two seconds to go when Swain came up with the biggest rebound of the game. She was then fouled and made one of her two free throws. Hartford was unable to get off a shot on the ensuing possession when the game ended.

Nikkia Smith of Hartford led all scorers with 13 points.