Janea Aiken Leads UAlbany to Key America East Road Win at Binghamton

Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information

Vestal, N.Y. – Freshman guard Janea Aiken scored 17 points to lead UAlbany to a 63-49win over Binghamton in a key America East Conference women’s basketball matchup at the Events Center on Wednesday, March 5. With the win, UAlbany remains tied with Boston U., who was victorious over UMBC on Wednesday night, for third place in the America East.

After back-and-forth play through the first five and a half minutes, UAlbany scored four consecutive points to open a three point lead. Senior Sherri Mikus converted a jump shot and sophomore Britney McGee recorded a layup to give the Great Danes an 11-8 lead. Following the under four minute media timeout, in which the game was tied, UAlbany scored seven of the half’s final 12 points to take a 24-22 lead into intermission. Guard TaNika Thrower ignited the run with a three-pointer and capped the stretch with a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left in the half.

UAlbany (12-16, AE 10-5) scored 14 of the first 18 points in the second half to jump out to a 38-26 advantage. Aiken connected on consecutive layups and Thrower scored six straight, capped by a fastbreak basket, to key the streak. Following a conventional three-point play by Binghamton’s Laine Kurpniece to cut the lead to single-digits for the final time, the Great Danes scored 11 of the next 13 points to open up an 18 point lead. Aiken hit a jump shot and a three-pointer in the stretch.

Binghamton (11-17, AE 9-6) narrowed the deficit to 14 on a layup and a pair of free throws by Kurpniece with just under eight minutes remaining, but could not get any closer. UAlbany responded with a three-pointer by senior Kristin Higy and a lay-up by classmate Gia Sanders to extend the lead to a game-high 19 points.

The Bearcats were able to score 12 of the game’s last 19 points to deliver the final score. Juta Jahilo, who recorded six points and a game-high seven rebounds in the contest, scored four points in the run for Binghamton.

"We use our conditioning as our strength,” said UAlbany head coach Trina Patterson, whose team can claim the third seed in the conference tournament with a win against Boston U. “We're smaller, but we play with a lot of heart. We aren't looking ahead to the tournament right now, we are still focused on Boston U. on Saturday."

Aiken was joined in double-figures by Sanders, who scored 14 points and Thrower, who tallied 11 points. Sanders registered a team-high five rebounds, McGee dished out a game-high six assists and recorded three of the Great Danes’ 10 steals. Kurpniece was the only Bearcat in double-digits, scoring 15 points.

UAlbany returns to action on Saturday, March 8 at Boston U. at 1 p.m. The winner of the match-up will be the third seed in the conference tournament, while the loser will be seeded fourth.



UAlbany 63, Binghamton 49 (3/5/08 at Vestal, N.Y.)

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Official Basketball Box Score
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Official Basketball Box ScoreALBANY vs Binghamton3/5/08 7 p.m. at Vestal, N.Y.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------VISITORS: ALBANY 12-16, 10-5, AE TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN24 Sanders, Gia........ f 7-12 0-0 0-0 0 5 5 1 14 1 1 0 2 2931 Higy, Kristin....... f 2-4 1-2 2-2 0 2 2 3 7 0 2 0 0 1502 McGee, Britney...... g 1-7 0-3 2-2 2 2 4 2 4 6 1 0 3 3310 Aiken, Janea........ g 7-12 3-4 0-0 1 1 2 1 17 2 1 0 1 3023 Iromuanya, Charity.. g 1-6 0-2 4-4 0 4 4 2 6 1 2 1 2 2901 Ford, Amira......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 503 Lindsay, Ashley..... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 305 Thrower, Tanika..... 3-7 1-2 4-4 0 3 3 0 11 0 1 0 1 1214 Clements, Kim....... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 615 Mikus, Sherri....... 2-5 0-1 0-0 2 2 4 2 4 1 3 0 0 2555 Peterson, Kirsten... 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 1 13 TEAM................ 1 2 3 Totals.............. 23-55 5-14 12-12 8 24 32 14 63 12 12 1 10 200TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-26 30.8% 2nd Half: 15-29 51.7% Game: 41.8% DEADB3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-6 33.3% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 35.7% REBSF Throw % 1st Half: 6-6 100 % 2nd Half: 6-6 100 % Game: 100 % 0--------------------------------------------------------------------------------HOME TEAM: Binghamton 11-17, 9-6 AE TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN32 Laine Kurpniece..... f 6-9 0-0 3-3 0 4 4 2 15 1 1 0 1 2733 Laura Franceski..... f 3-6 0-0 0-0 0 5 5 3 6 1 1 1 1 2511 Laura Sario......... g 3-10 1-2 0-0 0 2 2 1 7 4 2 0 0 3322 Erica Carter........ g 2-8 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 3 4 2 2 0 1 2625 Muffy Sadler........ g 2-4 1-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 5 2 4 0 1 2613 Darryll Peterson.... 0-0 0-0 0-1 1 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 815 Juta Jahilo......... 1-5 0-0 4-4 3 4 7 1 6 0 5 0 0 2021 Jackie Ward......... 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 1331 Brianna Thompson.... 2-4 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 1 4 0 0 0 1 1855 Erin Owens.......... 0-2 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 TEAM................ 2 2 4 1 Totals.............. 19-50 2-7 9-10 8 24 32 14 49 13 17 1 6 200TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-23 39.1% 2nd Half: 10-27 37.0% Game: 38.0% DEADB3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 0-3 0.0% Game: 28.6% REBSF Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 7-8 87.5% Game: 90.0% 0--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Officials: Michele St. Pierre, Michael Schmidt, Keith MillerTechnical fouls: ALBANY-None. Binghamton-None.Attendance: 1583Score by Periods 1st 2nd TotalALBANY........................ 24 39 - 63Binghamton.................... 22 27 - 49