VESTAL, N.Y. – Visiting UMBC (5-8, 1-0 AE) shot 54 percent from three-point range (7-of-13) and three of its players reached double figures in scoring, highlighting its 70-55 win over Binghamton (5-9. 0-1 AE) in an America East women's basketball game on Thursday evening at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. The contest marked the first of three straight home games for the Bearcats to begin its conference schedule.

Anna Blount and Jaliena Sanchez paced a balanced Retriever attack with 12 points each. Sanchez went a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line, recorded a pair of assists and added two steals. Blount, meanwhile, grabbed seven rebounds and hit both of her three-point field goal attempts. Also reaching double figures in scoring was Jordon Lewis, who had 10 points off the bench – including a pair of three pointers.

For the Bearcats, freshman Kendall Bennett scored a team-high 11 points, going 5-for-7 from the field. Redshirt sophomore guard Jadyn Weltz had six assists to go along with seven points, four rebounds and a steal.

Nursing a 30-25 lead with three minutes to go in the first half, UMBC scored the final eight points of the period to take a 38-25 lead at the break. Lewis punctuated the run with a three-point field in the final seconds of the half.

The Bearcats got to within 47-38 on a jumper by Ella Wanzer with 3:27 left in the third period. That would be, however, the final time they were within single digits.

The largest Retriever lead of the game was 70-53 on a driving layup by Sanchez with 56 seconds left in regulation.

While UMBC found success from three-point range, the Bearcats struggled from beyond the arc, hitting just three of their 16 attempts (18.8 percent). Binghamton did rack up 15 assists but it also committed 17 turnovers. The Bearcats entered the game leading the America East with 8.1 three-point field goals per game as well as a 1.14 assists-to-turnover ratio.

"We got to get back to work and get one percent better every day," head coach Bethann Shapiro Ord. "We've been taking care of the basketball much better than we did today and that assist to turnover ratio tonight was not like us. We got to get back to what we do well."

UMBC also shot 73.1 percent from the free throw line (19-of-26) compared to 53.3 percent (8-of-15) for the Bearcats.

Wanzer, who finished with seven points, was 1-for-3 from three-point range. Her successful three-point field goal, however, gave her 120 for her career and moved her into a 10^th-place tie in program history. Kim Albrecht also had 120 three-point field goals from 2012-16.

Bennett is the third Binghamton freshman to reach double figures in scoring this season. Bella Pucci has reached double figures three times while Kaylee Krysztof has a pair of double-figure performances.

Up next for Binghamton is an 11 a.m. Youth Day Game next Thursday against Bryant.