Bedlam in Binghamton

Extended winning streaks are rare for a reason. They require skill, consistency and, often, quite a bit of luck.

Through most of the Boston University women’s basketball team’s now-13-game winning streak, the latter had been rarely required. In the waning moments of Wednesday night’s 76-75 overtime win over Binghamton University, the Terriers needed to catch a break.

Prayer answered.

With seven seconds left in overtime, Binghamton (10-15, 5-7 America East) sophomore Jackie Ward (9 points, 2 steals) broke through a stingy BU defense, throwing in a miracle 2-point jumper to break a 73-73 tie. The Terriers immediately inbounded the ball to senior co-captain Christine Kinneary, and then Lady Luck threw the game a Christy Matthewson-esque screwball.

Following Ward’s go-ahead bucket, the Binghamton bench erupted like a Mentos in Diet Coke, and a handful of players and an assistant coach ended up celebrating on the floor, possibly assuming BU had called a timeout. As the Terriers (18-6, 12-0)’ inbounded the ball, the Binghamton assistant coach bumped into BU senior Christine Kinneary, drawing a technical foul with 4.8 seconds remaining.

‘Most of us didn’t even know what had happened,’ senior Kristi Dini said about the less-than-routine technical foul. ‘The game was stopped and the ref’s blew the whistle . . . I thought we had called a timeout. Half the other girls thought we’d called timeout. We had no clue, and then all of a sudden, the ref was yelling, ‘Two shots.”

The Terriers sent junior Aly Hinton and her .804 free-throw percentage to the line for two free throws. Hinton missed the first freebie, but converted the second, and the Terriers took possession of the ball with the same 4.8 seconds left on the clock.

BU tossed the ball into the hands of senior Amarachi Umez-Eronini (11 points, 11 assists, eight rebounds), who, in Moses-like fashion, answered the Terriers’ final prayer with a last-second game-winning layup.

‘Once I caught the inbound pass from Aly, there was only about four seconds left on the clock and we had to score,’ Umez-Eronini said. ‘Somehow, when I drove, it was kind of like parting the Red Sea, and there was an open lane, and I was able to make that shot.’

Binghamton’s inbound pass would be broken up, and BU boarded the bus back to Boston, winning streak still intact.

Perhaps lost in the cracks of the excitement of Wednesday’s game was a milestone performance by Dini. In the 99th game of her career, the Putnam Valley, N.Y. native drained her 173rd 3-pointer as a Terrier, surpassing 2004 alumna Katie Terhune atop the all-time BU list. Dini also snapped the record for treys in a season Wednesday night, topping Becky Bonner’s 72 3-balls in 2003-04.

‘It’s very exciting to be on that list,’ Dini said. ‘I didn’t even know it happened today. It was such a close game, and I was just so excited about the win, and then everybody started to congratulate me, and, I mean, it was just such a great feeling.’

Throughout the season, BU coach Kelly Greenberg has emphasized the importance of avoiding letdowns in potential ‘Internet games’ ‘-‘- a phrase coined by Greenberg because she worries her players will spend more time checking their statistics and standings online than they will worrying about their next opponent.

For the vast majority of the conference season, the Terriers had avoided any such letdown against an inferior opponent. However, Greenberg said BU’s lackadaisical defensive effort and general lack of urgency made Wednesday’s contest closer than it should have been.

‘[Binghamton] seemed more ready to win the game and more up for the game than we did,’ Greenberg said. ‘Our energy and our intensity level were down from the get-go.’

Game Notes: Umez-Eronini’s 11 helpers marked a career high, besting her nine-assist effort on Jan. 17 against the University of New Hampshire. The Washington, D.C. native also added five steals, two shy of her career high. ‘hellip; Senior co-captain Jesyka Burks-Wiley’s 20 points brought down her season average vs. conference opponents to 20.8 ppg. The 6-foot-1 forward tied for a game-high in scoring despite an 0-for-5 performance from 3-point range. ‘hellip; Dini and Hinton combined to shoot 9-of-16 (.562) from beyond the arc. ‘hellip; BU has six days to regroup and think about its next game ‘- a pivotal matchup at the defending America East champions, the University of Hartford (15-9, 10-1).