VESTAL, N.Y. – Sophomore guard Imani Watkins scored a career-high 30 points and freshman guard Rebecca Carmody netted a career-high 22 points, powering Binghamton (13-15, 8-7 AE) to a 70-56 win over UMBC (17-11, 8-8 AE) in an America East women's basketball game on Wednesday night at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. With the victory, the Bearcats have now won three straight games and conclude their regular-season home schedule with a record of 10-3.


Watkins, who also grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, went 8-for-17 from the field and 8-for-10 from the free throw line. Her performance marks the 21st time in program history -- and the sixth during Binghamton's 15-year NCAA Division I era -- that a Bearcat player has scored at least 30 points in a game. She now has 15 career games with at least 20 points, 12 of which have come this season. In addition, Watkins now has four career double-doubles -- including a triple double against Nyack back on Dec. 15 -- all of which have come during the current year.


Carmody, meanwhile, went 8-for-14 from the field and sank all six of her free throw attempts. It marked the first time in her career that she has reached the 20-point mark in scoring.


"I was very proud of how our team came out and played tonight," head coach Linda Cimino said. "We knew both Imani and Rebecca had to play great tonight for us to win and our defense really came through in the second half."


Watkins had 19 of her points in the first period alone as the Bearcats took a 23-14 lead. She went 6-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc during that stretch, including a long-range shot at the buzzer.


UMBC, however, regrouped and outscored the Bearcats 18-8 in the second period to take a 32-31 lead at the half. Pandora Wilson, who led the Retrievers with 21 points and 10 rebounds, scored eight of her points during that span.


After being held to four points in the first half, Carmody took charge in the third quarter. She scored 10 of her points as the Bearcats took a 52-44 lead.


UMBC got to within 62-56 with 2:44 left in regulation on a layup by Taylor McCarley. She finished with 18 points.


From there, however, the Bearcats scored eight unanswered points to finish the game. Albrecht hit two free throws after the UMBC bench was called for a technical foul with 2:17 left to go. Carmody then scored the final six points of the night.


Watkins now has 868 points and moves into 19th place all time in Binghamton program history. Senior Kim Albrecht, who finished with six points against UMBC, is now in 20th place all time with 867 career points


Binghamton concludes its regular season on Saturday with a 1 p.m. game at Maine.


NOTES: This marks the first time that Binghamton has posted both a 30 and 20-point scorer in the same game since it won 85-70 at Mercyhurst on Feb. 5, 2001 during its final season of competing at the NCAA Division II level. Bess Greenberg had 35 points in that game and Sarah Cartmill scored 22 points ... Watkins is the second Binghamton player to score at least 30 points in a game this year. Sophomore forward Alyssa James scored a career-high 33 points at Columbia on Dec. 9.


(Courtesy: BU Athletics)