MANCHESTER, N.H. – Sophomore All-Conference forward Lauren Battista (North Easton, Mass.) scored off an inbound play with 5.5 seconds remaining to give Northeast-10 Conference-leading Bentley University a 54-53 win over Southern New Hampshire in women's college basketball action Saturday afternoon at the SNHU Fieldhouse.

Battista finished the game with 18 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two assists with the double-double her seventh of the season. Junior guard Courtney Finn (Winthrop, Mass./Winthrop HS) followed with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals as the duo accounted for 34 of the team's 54 points.

Bentley, ranked seventh nationally in Division II, overcame 20 turnovers, nine missed free throws and 14 SNHU offensive rebounds to remain one game up on Southern Connecticut State in the conference standings. The Falcons improved to 21-3 overall and 17-2 NE-10 after holding SNHU (17-8, 12-7 NE-10) without a field goal over the final seven minutes of play.

 Down five as the clock went below six minutes, Bentley reeled off six straight points to take a 52-51 lead with 2:26 left. Battista made the first of two free throws, sophomore All-Conference forward Jacqui Brugliera (Fitchburg, Mass./Wachusett Reg. HS) followed with a three-point play off a Finn assist, and Finn sank two from the charity stripe.

It stayed that way into the final minute. Southern New Hampshire junior forward Sloane Sorrell (Berwick, Maine), the game's top scorer with 23 points, picked off an errant pass at midcourt and was fouled going to the basket with 34.7 seconds left. She converted both, putting the Penmen back in front by one.

Battista missed a potential go-ahead foul-line jumper with about 10 seconds to play, but the ball kicked out of bounds off SNHU with 7.7 seconds left. Junior guard Kelsey Roberson (Arlington, Mass./ Arlington Catholic HS) found Battista under the basket, delivered the inbound pass and Battista put it through the hoop for what proved to be the winning bucket.

Following a timeout, SNHU, slowed by the Falcon defense, used most of the remaining four and four-tenths seconds to bring the ball up court and was forced to settle for a buzzer-beating three-point attempt by Sorrell that fell well short.

A 14-point first half by Finn powered Bentley to a 31-28 lead at the break. She had both a three-pointer and a lay-up early, during a 9-2 Falcon run to open the game, and another five during a 12-4 spurt late in the half after SNHU took its only lead of the first 20 minutes, 20-19.

Finn knocked down five of seven first-half shots, including a couple from outside the three-point line, and also contributed two assists, two rebounds and a steal.

Her efforts were nearly matched by Sorrell for SNHU as she scored 12 points and made two blocks before the break.

Bentley opened the second half with five unanswered points, a Battista turn-around and a three-ball from junior forward Caleigh Crowell (Harwich, Mass./Worcester Academy) that produced the Falcons' biggest lead of the game, 36-28.

With Bentley in the midst of missing seven straight free throws, Southern New Hampshire countered with a 7-0 run of its own and eventually claimed a 42-41 lead with 12:45 left.  The Penmen lead eventually grew to 51-46 before Bentley was able to battle back for the win. After going up five, SNHU finished the game 0-for-6 from the field with four turnovers.

Battista earned her 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and four free throws in six attempts. Finn also had a solid shooting game (5-9) and Crowell (8 points) made half of her six shots, two of those from three-point land. The rest of the team struggled offensively, making only 5 of 22 from the floor and two of seven from the line.

Sorrell (9-20 fg, 5-5 ft) carried the offensive load for SNHU with her teammates connecting on only 11 of 36 shots.

Bentley finished with a 43-36 advantage in shooting accuracy and had the game's only four three-pointers. Southern New Hampshire had the rebound edge, 38-32 , and an 11-6 edge in second-chance points.

Bentley will be back in action Tuesday night for a 5:30 pm encounter with Franklin Pierce.