BU Women fall to Siena

11/24/2012 (Updated 10:48:08 PM)

VESTAL  Visiting Siena (2-3) forced 27 turnovers en route to a 62-44 win over Binghamton (0-5) in a non-conference womens basketball game on Saturday afternoon at the Events Center. The loss was the Bearcats first ever against a Saints team they had defeated in three previous meetings.

Siena came into the game forcing 25 turnovers per game and lived up to its billing against the Bearcats. The Saints recorded 18 steals and scored 21 points off of turnovers.

Obviously it was a disappointing loss but I thought we saw a lot of good things from our young players, head coach Nicole Scholl said. We are going to continue to work hard and look for things we can improve upon.

Lilly Grence was one of three Siena players to reach double figures in scoring, as she finished with 13 points, six rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Tehresa Coles added 12 points and four rebounds but it was her game-high six steals that marked her biggest contribution. Off the bench, Kate Zarotney chipped in 10 points.

For Binghamton, freshman guard Jasmine Golden scored a team-best 13 points in her first career start. Junior guard Jasbriell Swain, meanwhile, finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a pair of steals.

The Bearcats were up 17-12 with 8:08 left in the first half, but Siena went on a 14-3 run in the ensuing 6:37 to go up 26-20 with 2:31 left before the break. The Saints forced five turnovers during that span.

Up 28-24 at the half, Siena blew the game open with a 12-3 run in the opening 5:29 of the second half to go up 40-27. From there, the Saints maintained a double-figure lead the rest of the way.

Golden was one of three freshmen to start for Binghamton. Kim Albrecht and Morgan Murphy were the other two rookies to crack the starting lineup. Murphy finished with eight points.

Our freshmen made some inexperienced plays and are still trying to mesh, Scholl said. But I thought they showed some good things.

The last time Binghamton had three freshman start in a game was against Northeastern on Feb. 22, 2003. Rachel Laws, Jen Haubrich and Jen Blues all started in the Bearcats 80-73 win.

Binghamton hosts Canisius on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a game carried regionally by Time Warner Sports.

COURTESY: BU ATHLETICS