After Cracking Top 25, Bentley Women Look to Extend Win Streak to 7 Wednesday at St. Michael’s
WALTHAM, Mass. – After handing Saint Anselm College its first in-region loss of the season and moving into D2SIDA top 25, the Bentley University women's basketball team will be in Colchester, Vt. Wednesday for a 5:30 pm encounter with St. Michael's College. The game from the Ross Sports Center can be viewed on the NE10 NOW digital network.
Bentley, alone at the top of the Northeast-10 Northeast Division standings, is 10-3 overall and 5-0 in conference play. The Falcons have won six in a row and eight of nine after a 2-2 start.
The Falcons returned to the D2SIDA media top 25 for the first time since the preseason, checking in at number 19. In the WBCA Division II poll, Bentley just missed the top 25 and were at the top of those also receiving votes.
St. Michael's, following a 63-57 win over Franklin Pierce Saturday, is 7-4 overall, 1-4 NE10 and 4-2 at home this season.
Saturday's 71-68 win over the reigning NCAA Division II East Region champions included ten ties and seven lead changes before the Falcons closed out Saint Anselm with a game-ending 7-0 run. A 14-2 advantage in free throws made helped Bentley earn the win in a game it led for only 3:15.
A trio of guards from the Midwest led the way with junior Katie Meriggioli (Waunakee, Wisc./ Edgewood HS) scoring 15 points and backcourt newcomers Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wisc./Appleton North HS) and Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) each following with 13. Thompson, turnover-free for the second straight game, had 13 points, including the go-ahead basket with 27 seconds left, as well as six rebounds and four assists.
Senior center Monica Viapiano (Holden/Holy Name HS), the only Falcon listed among the conference's top 20 scorers, leads Bentley at 13.6 points and 6.5 rebounds with her .538 field goal percentage fourth in the NE10.
Brekke, a sophomore transfer from the University of New Hampshire, follows at 12.4 points and Meriggioli provides 9.8 points and 6.3 rebounds a game. Graduate forward Megan Lewis (Sevenoaks, England) has elevated her scoring production to 8.8 after averaging 10.3 during the last ten games, and Thompson follows at 8.2.
During the current win streak, Women's Basketball Hall of Famer and 1,049-game winner Barbara Stevens has seen her team outshoot the opposition 44-36 percent, connect at a 77 percent success rate from the foul line and post a rebound margin of plus-10.3.
St. Michael's features junior guard Nicole Anderson and senior guard Brianna Purcell, who combine for nearly 30 points a game.
Anderson is sixth in the conference in scoring at 16.1 per game and Purcell is the NE10's leading playmaker, averaging 8.5 assists a game. She also gives the Purple Knights 12.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and two steals per contest.
St. Michael's also has the NE10's number two rebounder and number four shot blocker in senior forward Taylor Miller.
Bentley has an eight-game winning streak in the series with St. Michael's and a 66-4 record all-time against the Purple Knights. Last season, the Falcons prevailed 91-56 at home and 71-59 on the road.
Following the annual trip to Vermont, Bentley will be back in the Dana Center to host Southern Connecticut State on Saturday.