In Monday night’s America East women’s basketball semifinal in Orono, Maine, Binghamton women’s basketball standout Bella Pucci did her best to put the Bearcats on her back. In the end, the host Black Bears were too much to handle, holding on for a 60-56 victory.
Pucci led the Bearcats (19-11, 10-6 AE) with 24 points, followed by Carletta Bennett with 10 points, who had two crucial 3-pointers that kept the team in the game. Yanniah Boyd also contributed to the Bearcats’ effort, coming off the bench to score 10 points.
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Two-time America East Player of the Year Adrianna Smith earned her 19th double-double this season after finishing with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists to help bring the Black Bears (18-12, 12-4 AE) to another AE final appearance. Followed by Smith was senior guard Sarah Talon, who finished with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block.
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A first half to build on for Bearcats
Both teams stepped onto the court with strict man-to-man defenses, but it was Binghamton who emphasized heavy help-side coverage and frequent double teams on Adrianna Smith.
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The Bearcats managed to limit several of Maine’s second-chance opportunities and lock up Smith, who not only leads the AE in scoring (22.7 PPG) and averages over 10 rebounds and 4 assists per game, but is the only athlete (male or female) in the America East to score 1,000 points, 1000+ rebounds and over 400 assists in a career.
Pucci kickstarted the Bearcats’ offensive pace, draining a 3-pointer in less than two minutes in to give the team a 5-4 advantage.
Despite a much-needed aggressive and defensive effort in the paint, the Bearcats drew four fouls and forced a late turnover that prompted Smith’s first 3-pointer of the night in the final minute of first quarter, a shot that was a sign of things to come.
Nia Scott (55), of Bryant women’s basketball, shoots the ball vs. Binghamton, Jan. 29, 2026
The second quarter remained tightly contested at 15-15, with neither team able to capture perfection on both ends of the court. Yanniah Boyd added her first 2 of the night, stepping onto the court to break the tie at 17-15.
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Sarah Talon then went on to do the same, breaking a 21-21 tie with 4:44 left in the quarter after making a finger-roll layup to put the score at 23-21 in favor of Maine. A 4-0 run from the Black Bears, cut by another 3-pointer from Pucci, ended the half in favor of Maine with a score of 29-24.
Despite trailing by five heading to second half, the Bearcats were keeping Maine’s best shooters from connecting from behind the arc.
Smith finds chemistry and shot connections in the third
A combination of relentless rebounds and aggressive defense changed the pace of the game for the Black Bears. A 4-0 run that bled momentum from the second quarter into the third, put Maine on top at 33-24. A back-and-forth tennis match of sorts between Smith and the Bearcats would have the score at 41-34 with less than 30 seconds left before Sarah Talon hit a 3-point buzzer-beater at the end of the quarter (44-34) to send the overflowing Maine fan crowd into an uproar.
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A close call for the Black Bears
The Bearcats had a bone to pick with the Black Bears heading into the last quarter, scoring in less than a minute to chip away at the now 9-point deficit. Another 3-pointer from Pucci, who was now 3-for-6 from beyond the arc, closed the gap at 44-39, still in favor of Maine.
A pull-up jumper from Smith, who had 20 points four minutes into the fourth, was met by a clutch 3-pointer from Binghamton’s Carletta Bennett to put the score at 46-42.
Three fouls were called on Binghamton with six minutes left of the game, which would then begin a trend of fouls that put Kendall Bennett (3 PF), Carletta Bennett (5 PF) and Kaia Goode (4 PF) in foul trouble.
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Capitalizing on the trips to the free-throw line, the Black Bears earned 12 points from free throws alone in the fourth.
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Right before fouling out of the game, another clutch three-pointer from Carletta Bennett put the Bearcats in tight contention, trailing by only three points with less than 30 seconds left of the fourth quarter.
Sarah Talon eased the minds of the Maine crowd by going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the last 15 seconds of the game to put the score at 60-53 in favor of the Black Bears.
A last-ditch effort came from Pucci, who hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer, but it was too late for the Bearcats.
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Maine will visit top-seeded Vermont in the America East final on Friday (5 p.m.), with the Black Bears in search of their 11th conference tournament championship.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Maine tops Binghamton in a nail-biting AE women’s semifinal
