WEST HARTFORD, CONN. --–No. 7 seed Northeastern (15-14) kept No. 2 seed Binghamton (17-10) at bay for virtually the entire game, and advanced to the semifinals with a 63-53 quarterfinal victory in the Friendship Cottage Cheese America East Championship from Chase Family Arena.
The Huskies built a 12-point halftime lead and never led by less than seven points in the second half. Binghamton’s offense struggled from the outset, as the Bearcats missed 14 of their first 16 shots (12.5 percent) in the game and made only seven field goals in the first half. Despite the slow start, Binghamton traded leads with the Huskies during the opening minutes of the game. However, Northeastern took the lead for good on a three-point play with 12:14 left in the period. After a missed basket by Binghamton on the other end, the Huskies extended the lead to four and led by at least two possessions for the rest of the game.
Senior forward Joi Jefferson led Northeastern with 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Junior forward Francesca Vanin and sophomore guard Maralene Zwarich each tallied 14 points.
Binghamton was led by sophomore guard Rachel Laws, who tallied a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Senior guard Kate Townley had 10 points and four assists.
As time wound down in the second half, the Bearcats held Northeastern without a field goal for nearly seven minutes, and a three-pointer by freshman guard Therese Deemand with 3:29 left capped a 10-2 run that cut the Huskies’ lead to 54-47. It was the closest the Bearcats had been since trailing by six with 5:27 remaining in the first half. Northeastern limited the effect of its dry spell by making 10 free throws in the final 8:20 to prevent Binghamton from getting any closer.
The Huskies advance to Friday night’s second semifinal game, and will take on No. 3 seed Boston University at 8:30 p.m. The Terriers advanced earlier in the day with a come-from-behind 67-57 victory over Vermont.