WALTHAM, Mass. – After closing out the regular season with an impressive win over Saint Anselm College Tuesday night, the Bentley University Falcons will turn their attention to the Northeast-10 Conference Women's Basketball Championships, which will get underway on Friday evening.

Coach C White's Falcons, the number two seed out of the Northeast Division, will host the University of New Haven, the Southwest Division's seventh seed, in a first round contest at the Dana Center Friday. The 6 pm game will be streamed over the NE10 NOW Digital Network.

The winner of Friday's game will advance to Monday's quarterfinals and will face the winner of the Adelphi-Franklin Pierce contest. The quarters were originally scheduled for Sunday but shifted due to the postponement of two first-round games.

Bentley has a proud NE10 tournament history, one that includes 20 championships, 29  appearances in the finals, 35 trips to the semifinals and an 86-18 record in 38 tournaments. The last championship came in 2018 when Bentley won in overtime against Stonehill.

Bentley enters the postseason at 15-8 overall and ranked seventh in the NCAA Division II East Region. New Haven is 10-15 overall but has won four of its last seven, including 87-76 at Franklin Pierce in the regular season finale.

The two programs, who last met in a postseason game in 2009, saw each other once during the regular season with Bentley winning at home earlier this month, 80-61. The backcourt tandem of Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wis./Appleton North HS) and Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) combined to make 9 of 11 three-pointers, including a school-record 5-of-5 effort from Brekke, to lead the Falcons.

Bentley's top scorer for the season, graduate forward Autumn Ceppi (Bedford/Dana Hall School), is coming off a career game. In the 73-62 win over Saint Anselm, she finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and two steals. Ceppi has averaged 18.3 points over the last six games, raising her season norm to 14.2.

Thompson and Brekke follow in the scoring column, at 12.9 and 10.8 points, respectively. Thompson is third in the conference in three-pointers (56) and Brekke is number one in three-point percentage at .442.

The usual starters for the Falcons also include sophomore Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) and freshman Amanda Kabantu (Portland, Maine/ Portland HS). In their first collegiate season, they've averaged 8.8 and 7.0 points, respectively.

In conference games, Bentley was first in field goal percentage (.433), second in scoring (68.8) and third in scoring defense (59.9).  On the other hand, New Haven ranked 11^th in offense (57.2), ninth in field goal percentage (.380) and 11^th in scoring defense (64.1). Steals are a strength with the Chargers third in the conference.

Graduate guard Brie Pergola has been a key to New Haven's success this season. They are 9-10 when the 11-point-per-game scorer plays and 1-5 when she's been out.

Senior guard Camryn Debose leads the team in scoring, averaging 13.3 points, and is first in steals with 64. Junior forward Aurora Deshaies, who provides 12.4 points and 11 rebounds a game, is one of only three NE10 players averaging a double-double. In the last two games, she's totaled 53 points and 39 rebounds.

Bentley leads the all-time series with New Haven, 30-5, including 14-3 at home.

Northeast-10 Conference Championships

First Round ­- Friday, February 25^th: 
Game 1: #7 SW New Haven at #2 NE Bentley – 6:00 PM
Game 2: #7 NE Saint Michael's at #2 SW Pace – 7:00 PM
Game 3: #6 SW Saint Rose at #3 NE Stonehill – 5:30 PM

First Round ­- Saturday, February 26^th:    
Game 4:  #6 NE Franklin Pierce at #3 SW Adelphi – 3:30 PM
Game 5: #5 SW American International at # 4 NE Saint Anselm – 1:30 PM
Game 6: #5 NE Assumption at #4 SW Southern Connecticut – 1:30 PM

Quarterfinals -­ Monday, February 28^th:
Game 5 winner at #1 SW Le Moyne – 5:30 PM
Game 6 winner at #1 NE Southern New Hampshire – 6 PM
Game 1 winner vs. Game 4 winner (at highest remaining seed) - TBD
Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner (at highest remaining seed) - TBD

Semifinals ­- Thursday, March 3rd (at highest seeds remaining)

Championship -­ Sunday, March 6^th (at highest seed remaining)