The UMBC women's basketball team dropped a 72-66 overtime decision to Binghamton in the America East Conference Tournament quarterfinal round on Friday night. UMBC drops to 15-13 for the season while Binghamton, who advances to take on No. 1 seed Hartford on Saturday in the semifinal round, moves to 17-11.
UMBC led by six points with 1:05 on the clock in the second half at 58-52. Rachel Laws hit a jumper for the Bearcats to close the gap to four at 58-54 with 44 seconds left. Brittnie Hughes on the ensuing possession brought the ball up court, dishing it ahead just prior to contact with a Binghamton defender, as a charge was call on Hughes handing the ball back into Binghamton's hands.
Jen Blues drained a three with 31 seconds left to close the margin to 58-57. Hughes went to the foul line after being held on the inbounds, knocking down both free throws to give UMBC a 60-57 advantage with 29 seconds left.
The Bearcats on the next possession went down low to Laws, who hit a jumper while being fouled. Laws went to the line, tying the game with a free throw at 60-60 with 21 seconds left. UMBC had two attempts in the final seconds as Sharri Rohde barely missed a jumper and Heather Luttrell at the buzzer rimmed out a three-point attempts.
In overtime Binghamton and UMBC exchanged leads twice before Laws gave the Bearcats the lead at 67-66. After a Retriever miss, the Bearcats found Laws again for another jumper putting the Bearcats up 69-66 with 32 seconds left.
Hughes missed a jumper on the next possession as the Bearcats hit 3-of-4 free throws in the final 20 seconds for the win.
Laws led all scorers with 26 points and 10 rebounds. Jen Haubrich was a sensational 8-for-10 from the field for 18 points while Jen Blues recorded 10 points.
Rohde led UMBC with 14 points followed by 13 from Matea Pender and Hughes. UMBC's bench tallied 17 points in the game, led by eight from Kristin Drabyn and seven from Erin Voss.
