WALTHAM, Mass. -- Eight women's basketball teams will gather at Bentley University's Dana Athletic Center this weekend with one common goal.  All will be attempting to earn a trip to St. Joseph, Mo. for the 2011 NCAA Division II Elite Eight.

The Bentley University Falcons will be looking to get back to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2003, the Franklin Pierce University Ravens will be seeking their fourth straight regional crown and three other Northeast-10 teams (The College of Saint Rose, Assumption College and Pace University) will be attempting to string together the three straight wins a regional championship requires.

Holy Family University, C.W. Post and Goldey-Beacom College will all be seeking to end the NE-10's monopoly on regional championships. An NE-10 member institution has advanced beyond this region annually since 1989, with the exception of Saint Rose in 1999, when the Golden Knights were then a member of the old New York Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Action will tip off at noon Friday with an all-Northeast-10 battle between third-seeded Franklin Pierce (24-7) and sixth-seeded Pace (22-8). The second game of the day, at 2:30, will be a rematch of last Saturday's Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championship game, with seventh-seeded Goldey-Beacom (18-11) taking on second-seeded Holy Family (23-4).

The evening session will get underway with top-seeded and Northeast-10 champion Bentley (25-4) beginning its record 28th NCAA tournament against East Coast Conference champ C.W. Post (17-12). Like the day's opening contest, the finale will pit two NE-10 teams against each other with fourth-seeded Assumption facing number five Saint Rose in a battle of 21-7 squads.

Each of the day one contests feature rematches from earlier in the season. Franklin Pierce edged Pace, 69-68, back on Jan. 5, and the two CACC teams have met three times this season with the visitor winning by double figures in each. Holy Family won 68-48 on Dec. 16, Goldey-Beacom took the Jan. 13 meeting (64-51) and G-B prevailed 66-54 in the conference championship game.

Bentley rolled to a 93-60 win over C.W. Post back on Dec. 19, the victory being the 800th for coach Barbara Stevens, and Assumption swept the series from Saint Rose, winning 69-65 back in November and 63-44 last month.

Bentley, looking to advance in the NCAA regional for the first time since 2007, has won ten of its last eleven and after reaching the 25-win plateau for the 17th time in the program's proud history, has already improved on last year's mark by six games.

Stevens, the sixth winningest coach in women's basketball history with 818 victories, has received outstanding efforts from a pair of freshman forwards all season. Jacqui Brugliera (Fitchburg/ Wachusett Reg. HS) and Lauren Battista (North Easton/Oliver Ames HS) rank 1-2 on the team in both scoring and rebounds. Brugliera, the NE-10 Rookie of the Year, averages 14.5 points and 8.7 rebounds, and Battista, the MVP of the conference playoffs, follows at 13.8 and 6.6.

Senior Kim Brennan (Locust Valley, N.Y./Locust Valley HS), owner of 1650 career points and on the verge of becoming the top scoring guard in Bentley history, has been playing her best basketball of the season of late, averaging 14.5 points over the last five games. In the conference playoffs, she averaged 18.7 points and shot 54 percent.

Bentley, which saw injuries limit posts Elise Caira and Caleigh Crowell to a total of 10 games (all by Caira), also received solid efforts from sophomore guard Courtney Finn (Winthrop/Winthrop HS), junior forward Shatasia Kearse (Framingham/Lincoln Sudbury HS) and junior guard Katherine Goodwin (Goffstown, N.H./Governors Academy) in recent games. In the NE-10 tourney, Finn averaged 11 points and 8.3 rebounds, Kearse made 67 percent of her shots off the bench, and Goodwin shot 58 percent.

C.W. Post edged Bridgeport in the ECC final to run its winning streak to five games, the longest current one in the region, and earn its first NCAA berth since 2001. The Pioneers, who were under .500 as late as a month ago before winning seven of their last eight, hold the opponents to 37 percent shooting and force over 19 turnovers a game.

Senior guard Janea Aiken, the Player of the Year in the ECC for the second straight year, averages just a shade under 18 points a game and also leads the Pioneers in assists (95), steals (53) and free throws (134-169). Felicia Joyner, a junior guard and a second-team All-Conference pick, follows at 12.4 points a game, and six-foot senior Alyssa Lombardi is a force on the boards (8.6 a game).

Franklin Pierce, which had won 14 of 15 games before falling to Bentley in the NE-10 final, has a nine-game regional winning streak going. The Ravens feature Northeast-10 Player of the Year Jewel White, the NE-10's top scorer (19.4) and rebounder (11.9), and NE-10 Defensive Player of the Year Marielle Giroud (14.3 ppg, 63 steals). Franklin Pierce averages 72.1 points, second best in the NE-10 behind Bentley's 73.5.

Pace, making its 15th NCAA appearance, opened the season with seven consecutive wins and had won four in a row before falling in OT to Saint Rose in the NE-10 quarterfinals. The Setters are among the NE-10's top defensive clubs, holding the opponents to 54.1 points and a .368 field goal percentage while forcing 19 turnovers a game. Senior Brittany Huggins and sophomore Brittany Shields, a pair of 5-10 forwards, lead the team in scoring at 13.9 and 13.8, respectively.

Holy Family, a regional finalist two of the last three seasons, is making its eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, the longest current streak in the East. The Tigers have won 19 of their last 21 games, with both losses incurred by the team they'll open the NCAA tourney against, Goldey-Beacom. Senior guard Catherine Carr, the Tigers' all-time leading scorer with 1,946 points, averages nearly 16 points and six rebounds. Also in doubles for Holy Family are six-foot-one Erin Mann (13.3) and grad student Samantha Thompson (11.6).

Goldey-Beacom, the lone program in the field without NCAA tournament experience, has won nine of its last ten, including the 66-54 decision over Holy Family in the CACC final. The Lightning have four double-figure scorers, including tourney MVP and senior guard Janae Weldon. She torched the Tigers for 30 points, nearly triple her season norm of 10.3. Junior guard Jacinda Jones and sophomore power forward Irene Hudson top the team's scoring list at 12.9 and 12.2 points per game, respectively, with Hudson providing the Lightning with an offensive spark off the bench.

Assumption, a win shy of tying the school record of 22 wins set in its last NCAA tournament season (2007-08), had won six straight and 10 of 11 before dropping a 90-75 decision to Franklin Pierce in last week's NE-10 semis. The Greyhounds feature two first-team All-Conference honorees, junior forward Kelly Meredith and senior guard Molly Griffiths. Meredith is number two in the NE-10 in scoring at 19.3, Griffiths follows at 12.7 with a lofty .471 three-point percentage, and sophomore Gabrielle Gibson is the team's third double-figure scorer, at 11.5.

Saint Rose, an NCAA participant for the fourth time in seven years, saw a season-long seven-game winning streak snapped by Bentley in last week's NE-10 semis, 67-59. Junior guard Ashley Rath earned first-team All-Northeast-10 honors after averaging 16.2 points and burying a conference-high 69 three-pointers. Ola Shajuyigbe, also a junior guard, is having a solid year, averaging 12.4 points. All five of the Golden Knights' starters provide at least eight points a game. Lynsey Timbrouck has played all but 48 minutes this season and is second nationally in assists (196).

The semifinals will be Sunday afternoon with the winners of the afternoon games playing at noon and the winners of the evening contests squaring off at 2:30. The championship game will be at 6 pm Tuesday with the winner advancing to the Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Mo.