VESTAL, N.Y. – Binghamton (2-3) went toe to toe against Atlantic Coast Conference opponent (ACC) opponent Pittsburgh (3-1) before coming up short, 61-56, in a non-conference women's basketball game on Sunday afternoon at Dr. Bai Lee Court at the Events Center. The game marked the first of two contests that the Bearcats will play this season against a Power Five conference opponent this season.

Sophomore guard Kaylee Krysztof tied her career-high with a game-high 15 points against the Panthers. She hit four three-point field goals in the process. Redshirt junior guard Jadyn Weltz turned in an 11-point, seven-assist, five-steal, three-rebound performance while sophomore guard Leah Middleton also finished with 11 points. 

In a game that featured six ties and eight lead changes, the Panthers appeared to finally distance themselves from Binghamton as they went up 46-35 with 55 seconds left in the third period. It was a 14-5 run by Pittsburgh over a span of 5:31 that appeared to put the game out of reach for the Bearcats. 

From there, however, the Bearcats used the hot hand of Krysztof to come all and deadlock the score at 49-49 with 6:57 left in regulation. She drained three three-point field goals during that stretch and tied her career high with 15 points.

The score was deadlocked at 51-51 with 4:21 left to go but the Panthers took the lead for good with five straight points over the next two minutes of play. Bella Perkins sank a three-point shot and Khadija Faye scored two of her 12 points during that stretch.

Binghamton was within 58-56 with 25 seconds remaining but the Panthers iced the game by going 3-for-4 from the free throw line the rest of the way.

"I am definitely proud (of our team)," head coach Mary Grimes said. "We talked about having some grit and having some fight. We rebounded from the Cornell loss on Thursday and did a lot of the little things that it took to even be in this game at the end of the day. That is a tough ACC team that we just faced, so we are going to learn and grow from this."

Aaryn Battle of Pittsburgh tied Krysztof for the game-high with 15 points. She went 4-for-7 from the field and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. Mikayla Johnson, meanwhile, chipped in 10 points.

Junior forward Camryn Fauria finished with eight points and seven rebounds while junior guard Kaia Goode scored seven points.

The Panthers finished 8-for-18 from three-point range (44.4 percent) and held a 30-17 advantage in bench points.

Binghamton heads to LIU on Friday for a 6 p.m. game.

NOTES: The Bearcats other Power 5 opponent this season is Syracuse, who comes to the Events Center on Dec 18. The Orange is also a member of the ACC … Kryszof previously scored 15 points against Siena on Nov. 9.