WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University women's basketball team will have the opportunity to at least clinch at least a tie for the Northeast-10 Conference's Northeast Division regular season championship Saturday at Assumption College in what will be Barbara Stevens' 1,000th game as the Falcons' head coach. Tip off at Laska Gymnasium is 1 pm with a free webcast at www.assumptiongreyhounds.tv.

Bentley, which is riding a season-long six-game winning streak, will travel to Worcester owning a five-game lead on both Assumption College and Saint Anselm College with six regular season contests left. A win over the Hounds would clinch a tie and the Falcons could wrap up the division outright with a Saint Anselm loss at Merrimack.

Stevens, one of six coaches in NCAA women's basketball history with at least 975 career wins, owns an 818-181 record during her first 999 Bentley games. Her tenure with the Falcons has included one national championship, ten Division II final fours, 14 NCAA regional championships, 16 Northeast-10 tournament titles and 18 NE10 regular season championships.

This year's squad, ranked 19th nationally by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association and number three in the East in the D2SIDA media poll, owns records of 18-4 overall and 14-1 conference after storming back from 19 down to best Stonehill College on Wednesday, 63-56. Against the Skyhawks, the Falcons put together a 40-14 run over the final 16+ minutes, a stretch in which they held the visitors to 4-for-15 shooting with eight turnovers.

Following 52 points and 25 rebounds in the last two games by senior All-America forward Jen Gemma (Milton/Fontbonne Academy), more milestones are drawing near. The 2016 Northeast-10 Player of the Year and number two scorer in program history is 32 points away from 2,000 and 18 rebounds shy of 1,000. Only three players in conference history have achieved both milestones – AIC's Juana Garcia, Bryant's Liz Davies and Stonehill's Sue Patchett – and all three completed their careers about 20 years ago.

Gemma's numbers for her final season are up to 18.8 points and eight rebounds. She had 24 and 12 last Saturday at Southern Connecticut and a season-high 28 points, along with 12 boards, in the Stonehill game.

Bentley's other double-figure scorers are junior guards Lauren Green (Damascus, Md./ Damascus HS) and Macchi Smith (Los Angeles, Calif./Windward School), at 12.4 and 11.0, respectively. Green (161 career 3's) needs four more to pass associate head coach C White for sixth in program history, and Smith is the leading free throw shooter (.888) in the NE10 after knocking down 8 of 8 in the final 78 seconds Wednesday.

Assumption, despite scoring at much as 70 only once in its last 17 games, is 14-6 overall and 9-6 NE10 after dropping a 56-53 decision at Southern New Hampshire Wednesday.  The Greyhounds, fifth in the latest D2SIDA East Region rankings, are second in the conference in scoring defense (55.5 per game), second in defending the three (3.6 a game, .268 accuracy) and first in turnovers forced (18.3).

The Greyhounds have a veteran team with their six seniors including leading scorers Allison Stoddard and Jo Impellizeri. Stoddard averages 11.5 points, 2.8 assists and 1.5 steals while Impellizeri provides 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists a game. Kelly Carey, another senior, has knocked down a team-high 40 threes while producing 9.5 points.

In the earlier meeting of the two teams, Bentley prevailed 76-65 two days before Thanksgiving in Waltham. Gemma led the way with 20 points, Smith followed with 19 and the Falcons shot 53 percent overall.

Next week, Bentley will be home twice, hosting Southern New Hampshire Wednesday and Franklin Pierce Satuday.