Another Road Game on Tap for the 6-0 Bentley Women’s Basketball Team
WALTHAM, Mass. – For the sixth time in the season's opening seven games, the Bentley University women's basketball team will be on the road. Rindge, N.H. is the latest destination with the Falcons taking on Franklin Pierce University Wednesday at 5:30 pm at the FPU Fieldhouse. The game can be viewed at NE10NOW.tv.
Coach Barbara Stevens' team will take a 6-0 overall record and a 2-0 Northeast-10 mark into the game following an 83-48 non-conference win at the University of Bridgeport Saturday afternoon. Bentley is currently ranked six in the WBCA Division II coaches' poll and fourth in the D2SIDA media poll.
Franklin Pierce, meanwhile, is off to a 1-4 start with the only win coming against Nyack College, 77-65. The Ravens have been off since Nov. 20 when they dropped a 64-54 decision to Saint Michael's College.
Scoring hasn't been an issue for Bentley, which has scored at least 83 points in five of six games and is seventh nationally in Division II with an average of 86.3 points per game. The Falcons are also ninth in D2 in field goal percentage (.481) as well as fifth in three-point accuracy (.440). The average winning margin has been 27, they've outscored the opponents 109-50 at the foul line and have a 13.8 rebound margin.
Sophomore guard Katie Meriggioli (Waunakee, Wis./Edgewood HS) has been a key contributor for Bentley in her first season as a starter with her averages of 14.7 points and 6.5 rebounds ranking second to senior center and 2017-18 first-team All-Northeast-10 honoree Victoria Lux (Arundel, Maine/ Thornton Academy) (14.8 points, 7.0 rebounds).
Meriggioli is coming off a 26-point effort against Bridgeport, a total she achieved by making eight of 12 overall and six of nine three-pointers. She's second in the NE10 in three-point percentage (13-25, .520) and her 26 points was the most by a Bentley guard since both Lauren Green and Macchi Smith scored 26 in January 2017.
Lux, who has moved within 44 of 1,000 career points, and Meriggioli have been joined in Bentley's starting five by six-foot senior Megan Lewis (Sevenoaks, England), junior guard Maddy Springfield (Jaffrey, N.H./Conant HS) and senior guard Amy McConnell (South Windsor, Conn./ South Windsor HS).
Lewis averages 11.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and three assists, and McConnell (7.8 ppg) has a team-best 27 assists. Springfield is third in rebounds (5.3) in addition to scoring 6.5 a game.
Off the bench. Stevens has five players who are contributing between 6.5 and 9.5 points a game, a list headed by junior forward Monica Viapiano (Holden/Wachusett Reg. HS).
Franklin Pierce has had trouble putting the ball through the basket so far this year with the Ravens shooting only .369 overall, .239 from three and .634 at the foul stripe. One of their best efforts to date came Nov. 10 when they led nationally-ranked USciences with four-plus minutes left in the fourth before falling 56-48.
The top scorer for the Ravens is junior guard Mya Mosley, who provides 10 points, four assists and 3.8 rebounds a game. Six-foot-two freshman Izzy Lipinski is shooting a lofty 62 percent overall while averaging nine points and eight boards.
Bentley has swept Franklin Pierce the last two years with last year's scores 114-50 and 65-50.
On Saturday, Bentley will play only its second home game of the season when Saint Michael's College visits the Dana Center (1:30 pm).