VESTAL, N.Y. – The UMass Lowell women's basketball team erased a 15-point third quarter deficit to draw even late in the fourth quarter, but Binghamton was able to pick up the 58-53 win on Wednesday night.
 
The River Hawks (7-20, 3-11) trailed 42-27 with over two minutes to play in the third, but used a 21-6 run to draw even at 48-48 with under four minutes left in regulation. Brianna Rudolph (Lynn, Mass.) led the charge with 15 of her 21 points in the second half, while Linda Svenne (Riga, Latvia) and Kharis Idom (Orlando, Fla.) combined for four three-pointers. Svenne finished the night with 10 points, and Idom scored all nine of hers in the final 20 minutes.
 
"We showed a lot of stick-to-itiveness tonight, but we got ourselves in a hole tonight because we did not adhere to our scouting report," commented Head Coach Tom Garrick. "We let their three-point shooter get off clean looks in the first half and started off the second half the same way, so we were not in tune there, but much to our ladies' credit they stayed with it and they fought as hard as they could to bring us back."
 
After the Bearcats took their largest lead, a late 7-0 spurt by the River Hawks cut the deficit to 42-34 entering the final frame. Rudolph provided the spark in the run by scoring two buckets, sandwiched around a steal, all in a seven-second span within the final 90 seconds.
 
Behind Idom and Rudolph, UMass Lowell was able to trim the gap to five points with 6:31 to play. A couple of minutes later Rudolph and Svenne would score five in a row to knot the score, and Oda Shackelford (Edinburgh, Ind.) drew the teams even at 50-50.
 
Binghamton's Kai Moon scored 19 points with five three pointers, while teammate Carly Boland added 11 points. Rebecca Carmody dished out a game-high eight assists.
 
The visitors connected on the game's first basket but saw the Bearcats (11-15, 6-7) jump out to a 14-6 edge. With the hosts on a 9-2 run, Ren'Cia Rolling (Lansing, Ill.) cut the deficit to 9-6, but Binghamton regained momentum with the 5-0 spurt.
 
Kai Moon hit three of the Bearcats' four three-pointers in the opening quarter as the home team held a 17-10 lead after one.
 
Both teams got off to a slow start in the second, as there were only nine points scored in the first five minutes with the hosts holding a 22-14 lead. Binghamton was able to build a 10-point buffer, but Bri Stiers (Denver, Colo.) provided the final score of the half to make it a 28-20 game heading into the intermission.
 
The River Hawks head to Connecticut for their final road contest of the regular season against Hartford, on Saturday at 2 p.m.