PORTLAND, Maine – The Binghamton women's basketball team (13-17) was defeated 57-40 by Maine (17-15) in an America East quarterfinal game on Saturday afternoon at the Cross Insurance Center. The Bearcats entered the tournament as the No. 5 seed while the Black Bears were seeded fourth.
 
Freshman guard Kai Moon, who was named to the America East All-Rookie Team on Friday, scored a team-best 10 points. She also finished with a pair of assists and three steals.
 
Junior center Alyssa James, who on Friday was named the America East Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season, lived up to her billing. She grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and blocked four shots to go along with eight points.
 
The Bearcats had momentum going into the half. They finished on an 8-0 run in the final 2:16 of the second quarter. The spurt was capped by back-to-back three-point field goals by junior guard Imani Watkins and redshirt sophomore guard Jasmine Sina.
 
In the third period, Binghamton stretched its lead to 25-20 on a three-point field goal by sophomore forward Rebecca Carmody at the 8:37 mark.  Maine, however, rallied to take a 30-29 lead on a layup by Blanca Millan with 5:38 remaining. From there, the Black Bears closed the third period on an 11-5 run to go up 41-34.
 
Binghamton was held scoreless over the first four minutes of the final period. During that stretch, the Black Bears padded their lead to 49-34.
 
"Obviously, we are disappointed," head coach Linda Cimino said. "I was really proud of our first half but we didn't come out as strong in the second half.  We did not execute our game plan in the second half but give Maine credit for the defense that they played. "
 
Sigi Koizar led Maine with a game-high 16 points while Millan finished with 14 points. Anita Kelava added 10 points.
 
Maine moves on to face top-seeded New Hampshire in the semifinal round on Sunday at 2 p.m.