ANCHORAGE, AK. – Playing against a team from the American Athletic Conference, Binghamton (3-2) put up a valiant effort before losing 60-55 to Tulsa (3-2) in the opening round of the Great Alaska Shootout on Tuesday night at the Alaska Airlines Center. The Bearcats will next play on Thursday at 4 p.m. EST against Maryland-Eastern Shore (UMES), which lost 69-59 to host Alaska-Anchorage in the other first-round game.

Senior guard Imani Watkins scored a game-high 17 points. In the process, she moved into third place all time in Binghamton program history with 1,570 points. Against the Golden Hurricanes, she passed Andrea Holmes, who scored 1,557 points between 2008-12.

Senior guard Jasmine Sina and sophomore guard Kai Moon each netted 11 points. Junior forward Rebecca Carmody finished with six points, six rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks.

Sina netted all of her points in the opening period as the Bearcats took a 19-16 lead. She drained three three-point field goals in the process.

Tulsa came back to tie the game at 33-33 at the half and was up 48-46 with time running out in the third period. Watkins, however, nailed a three-point field goal before the buzzer, giving Binghamton a 49-48 lead heading into the final 10 minutes of regulation.

Both teams struggled from the field in the fourth period but a layup by sophomore forward Karlee Krchnavi put the Bearcats ahead 55-52 with exactly five minutes left to play. Those were, however, the final points Binghamton scored in the game.

Tulsa took a 56-55 lead on a pair of free throws by Shug Dickson with 3:06 left to go. The Golden Hurricanes then iced the game by going 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 13 seconds of the period.

"I thought we competed all game," head coach Linda Cimino said. "Offensively, we were able to attack. I thought Jasmine knocked down some key shots and other people stepped us for us. We were still in the game right down to the end but we made a couple of poor decisions and that's what cost us the game."

Dickson tied Watkins for the game high with 17 points. Kendrian Elliott netted 14 points.

Binghamton shot 41.8 percent for the game (23-of-56) but went just 2-for-8 from the free throw line.

Watkins and Erika Wakefield of Tulsa each dished out a game-high five assists.

Binghamton is making its first-ever appearance in the Great Alaska Shootout since the event's inception 40 years ago. 

"This is a great tournament and we are very blessed to be here," Cimino said. "Everyone has been great and the hospitality has been tremendous from our team host to the hotel to our bus driver. This is a real quality tournament and we are happy to be playing in it."

In its first five games this season, Binghamton has faced tough competition. In addition to Tulsa, which is a BCS team, the Bearcats beat defending Ivy League champion Penn on Nov. 15 and opened up the season at Army, who is favored to win the Patriot League.

NOTES: Holmes' 1,557 career points represents the highest total scored by a Binghamton player since the program elevated to the NCAA Division I level in 2001 … senior center Alyssa James finished with three blocks against Tulsa. She now has 184 rejections during her Binghamton career, which continues to rank third all time in program history and sixth all time in the America East … the 11 points for Sina represents her season high … Watkins has scored at least 17 points in all five games so far this season.