Box Score VESTAL, N.Y. – The Big Red women's basketball team built a double-digit lead early in the second half, saw it erased with a 20-2 Binghamton run, but came back with less than three minutes to play to steal the 60-56 victory from the Bearcats this evening at the Events Center in Vestal, N.Y. With the win, Cornell snapped a four-game skid against Binghamton to improve to 2-1 on the season.

“Good teams find different ways to win,” said head coach Dayna Smith. “I liked our composure. We had close games last year … We knew if we could get it close and execute our offense then we could get a win.”

Allyson DiMagno led the Big Red with 17 points and eight rebounds. She filled out the stat line with one assist, one steal and one blocked shot. Clare Fitzpatrick scored 13 points, including a 5-for-5 performance from the free throw line, and Shelby Lyman added 10 points and six assists.

After a rough shooting performance in its last outing, Cornell rebounded with an impressive 43 percent shooting night overall and a mark of 50 percent (9-of-18) from 3-point range.

Binghamton (0-2) was led by Jasbriell Swain's 12-point, 11-rebound double-double, while Sharae Swinson and Kara Elofson added 12 and 10 points, respectively.  The pair was a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line.

The Bearcats held the 38-29 advantage on the backboards, but shot just 34 percent from the floor and 27 percent from beyond the arc.

Both teams took care of the ball, with Cornell turning the ball over 12 times and registering nine steals, while BU had 13 turnovers and six steals.

After taking the 33-23 lead into the intermission, the Big Red pressed to open the second half and extended its lead to 13 points (38-25) on a traditional three-point play by Fitzpatrick at the 17:59 mark.

The visitors maintained a double-digit lead until a pair of free throws from Swinson at the 14:11 mark opened up a 20-2 run to give Binghamton a 50-45 lead with just over seven minutes to play. During the run, 13 of BU's points came from the free throw line.

A wide-open layup by Fitzpatrick ended the run, but it was answered with a layup from Swain.

Taylor Flynn made an outstanding pass to DiMagno, who converted a layup in traffic to make it a one-possession game (52-49) but Vaneeshia Paulk made a circus layup on the other end to restore the five-point lead to the home team.

Flynn answered with a huge trey on the next possession, which lead to some controversy, as the shot went up as a foul was being called away from the ball. The officials went to the video replay and determined that the basket should count and awarded a one-and-one to Fitzpatrick, who converted both to tie the game at 54-54 with 3:13 to play.

Fitzpatrick then gave Cornell the 56-54 lead with just over two  minutes to play on a pair of free throws and a defensive stop on the other end, followed by a trey from Lyman put the Big Red back up by five (59-54) with 1:30 to go. 

Swain missed a pair of free throws on BU's next possession and after a Cornell miss on the other end, Swain drove into a swarming Big Red defense and travelled to give the ball back to Cornell with 41 seconds to play.

Binghamton pressed and forced a turnover with 36 seconds to play and Elofson made her way to the foul line to make it a 59-56 game with 20 seconds to play.

The Bearcats were forced to foul, but DiMagno booked one to seal the game, 60-56.

The second half comeback was in stark contrast to the first half, which was controlled by the Big Red from the start.

Swain scored all of Binghamton's first six points, but Cornell shut her down for the rest of the half and used some pressure defense and balanced offense to build a seven point lead (15-8) at the 11:17 mark. Six different Cornell players contributed to the Big Red's first 15 points.

The home team fought back and a basket by Kandace Newry, followed by six consecutive points by Swinson gave the home team a one-point lead, 16-15, with 8:33 to play. A layup by Fitzpatrick on Cornell's next possession stopped the 8-0 Binghamton run and put Cornell back up by one heading into the under-eight media timeout.

DiMagno extended the Big Red's lead with a deep two-pointer as the shot clock expired and a trey from Long at the top of the key put Cornell up 22-16 with 4:29 remaining in the half.

The teams traded baskets on the next several trips up and down the floor, but a pair of Binghamton layups were answered by back-to-back baskets from Aspen Chandler, including a trey, to make it a 27-20 Cornell lead.

Swinson missed a layup on the Bearcats next possession and DiMagno grabbed the rebound, then hit a trey at the other end to give the Big Red its largest lead of the half, 30-20, with just over one minute to play.

Stephanie Jensen answered with a deep trey from the top of the key, but the Big Red came right back to DiMagno, who drained a 3-pointer with  10 seconds to play in the half, and then blocked a last-second attempt by Paulk to send Cornell into the break with the 33-23 lead.

Cornell is back in action on Friday, Nov. 16 when it welcomes Syracuse to Newman Arena at 5:30 p.m.