WEST HARTFORD, Conn.-- Second-seeded Boston University and third-seeded Binghamton University held true to the bracket Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the America
East Men's and Women's Basketball Championship presented by Newman's Own at the Chase Family
Arena. The Terriers and Bearcats will square off in the first semifinal at 11 a.m. on Sunday, March 6, which will be televised on America East Television.
In the first quarterfinal of the day, America
East Player of the Year Chantell Alford finished with 24 points and 13
rebounds to lead Boston University to their third win of the season against
seventh-seed Vermont, 62-38.
"The
biggest thing we focused on was getting to loose balls, team defense,
rebounding, and just going in there and playing hard," said Alford of the
Terriers' total team effort.
The
Catamounts (5-25, 5-12) shot just 1-27 from the field in the first half,
producing the lowest shooting percentage for a half in the tournament's history
with 3.7 percent. The Terriers (16-13, 13-4)
took advantage of the shooting woes, taking a 32-6 lead into the halftime
break.
"A lot of
things worked out defensively and that was something we have been talking about
for the last few days," explained Boston University Head Coach Kelly
Greenberg. "Our players really put it
into action out there today."
Vermont was
led by their sophomore duo in Lauren Wheeler and Lauren Buschmann, who brought
the Catamounts to within 20 in the second half.
Buschmann finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds while Wheeler scored
14. Senior Tonya Young fouled out with
six minutes to go, finishing with seven points in her last game at Vermont.
In the second quarterfinal, the Binghamton Bearcats led for the
entire game, defeating the Wildcats of New
Hampshire by a score of 67-53. Binghamton was without its leading scorer Andrea Holmes who was out with a knee injury.
New
Hampshire (9-20, 6-11) trailed by as many as 21 but pulled to within six in the
final minutes of the game. In the end it
was too little, too late as the Bearcats (19-11, 12-5) hit their free throws
down the stretch to advance to the semifinals on Sunday.
Binghamton
junior forward Viive Rebane shot 75 percent from the field for 20 points, two shy of
her career high that she recorded against UNH earlier this season. Fellow junior Orla O'Reilly contributed on
both ends with nine points, 10 boards and six steals. America East Rookie of the Year Jasbriell Swain had 14
points to go with her nine rebounds and three assists.
"Overall I
thought our team battled, especially with the loss of Andrea Holmes," said
Binghamton coach Nicole Scholl on her team's resilience. "This was a crucial game that we had without
her and we had some success."
New
Hampshire was led by sophomore forward Cari Reed who had 13 points and four
rebounds. The team's leading scorer,
Denise Beliveau, was held to seven points but collected eight rebounds and two
steals to help drive the late comeback.
Binghamton and Boston U. split the regular-season series. The winner of the teams' semifinal will play in the
title game next weekend at the home court of the highest seed remaining.