![Bearcats Open Practice Under New Head Coach](http://townsquare.media/site/499/files/2018/09/20180925_1515562.jpg?w=150&h=150&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89&w=980&q=75)
Bearcats Open Practice Under New Head Coach
New Binghamton Bearcats women's basketball coach Bethann Shapiro Ord put her team through its paces on Tuesday at the Events Center. It was the official opening of preseason practice. Ord replaces former coach Linda Cimino who resigned to take a similar position at S.Francis College in Brooklyn. Cimino had just led the Bearcats to a 20-win season and a WBI Tournament win over Youngstown State University.
The new BU coach is a New York State native who left Weber State after seven seasons to take over the Bearcats' coaching reins. Ord is faced with replacing two superstars who graduated this spring. Alyssa James and Imani Watkins keyed the Bearcats' success over the past several seasons. James was a force defensively and broke both the BU school record and the America East conference mark for career blocked shots with 236. Watkins broke Bess Greenberg's school record for career points with 2,024 and was the America East Player of the Year last season.
Coach Ord looks for leadership from top returning scorers from the 2017-18 squad Kai Moon (11.5 ppg) and Rebecca Carmody (7.6 ppg). Local fans are looking forward to seeing two standout Binghamton High School alumni in action. 6'2" sophomore Olivia Ramil who has transferred from Georgetown and her sister Annie Ramil, a 6'0" freshman are expected to compete for plenty of playing time in the upcoming campaign. The Bearcats open the new season at home on October 30th with an exhibition game against Bloomsburg University at 7:00P.M.
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