BALTIMORE, Md. – Binghamton (12-3, 1-1 AE) rode a balanced offense and a tenacious defense to defeat UMBC (4-10, 0-3 AE) 61-43 in an America East women's basketball game on Wednesday evening at the Events Center. With the victory, the Bearcats have already equaled their win total from all of last season.

Senior guard Kai Moon finished with a game-high 14 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Senior guard Carly Boland and freshman guard Denai Bowman each added 10 points. Boland also dished out a game-high five assists while Bowman recorded a game-high three steals.

Defense, however, is what rode the Bearcats to the victory. Te'yJah Oliver of UMBC came into the game averaging 20.7 points per game. Binghamton, however, held her to a season-low eight points. In addition, the 43 points allowed is the second-fewest surrendered by the Bearcats this season.

"The girls know what they had to do today," head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord said. "They did a great job of sharing the basketball and did a terrific job defensively. We had the total defensive package tonight and our players did a great job."

Binghamton broke the game open early with an 18-2 run to take a 28-12 lead with 5:33 left in the first half. Six different Binghamton players scored during that stretch.

Following an even third period, Binghamton went on a 9-0 blitz to take a 60-33 lead with 4:09 left in regulation.

Binghamton held a 46-38 advantage in rebounding. Junior forward Olivia Ramil and senior guard Karlee Krchnavi each finished with a team-best nine rebounds. Ramil also scored eight points while Krchnavi finished with seven points.

Janee'a Summers led the Retrievers with 11 points.

The Bearcats also finished with just 11 turnovers and scored 21 of their points off of UMBC miscues.

Moon now has 1,177 career points and moves into 11th place all-time in Binghamton program history. Against UMBC, she surpassed Viive Rebane, who scored 1,176 points from 2008-12.

Boland now has 129 career three-point field goals. In the process, she ties Katrina Roggenbaum (1990-94) for ninth place all-time in program history.

The game at UMBC marked a homecoming for Shapiro Ord, who graduated from UMBC in 1989, as well as Bowman and freshman guard Zahra Barnes. The two freshman guard both are from the state of Maryland.

Binghamton returns home to face UMass Lowell on Saturday at 2 p.m. Prior to the game, Shapiro Ord will be honored during a pregame ceremony commemorating her 100th career victory, which came against NJIT on Dec 30.

NOTES: With its 12-3 record, Binghamton remains off to its best start since the 2001-02 season.