WALTHAM, Mass. – Northeast-10 Conference semifinalists for the 36^th time, the Bentley University women's basketball team will be looking to advance to the NE10 championship game for the record 30^th time when they take on Le Moyne College Thursday in Syracuse, N.Y. The 5:30 pm game from Ted Grant Court will be streamed on the NE10 NOW Digital Network.

As Bentley and Le Moyne are the top two seeds remaining, the winner of the game will host the Northeast-10 championship game on Sunday.

Bentley, 17-8 overall and the Northeast Division's second seed, has reached the semifinals with solid defensive efforts against seventh-seeded New Haven and sixth-seeded Franklin Pierce. The Falcons, who remained seventh in this week's NCAA East Region rankings, gave up an average of just 50 points and outrebounded their two opponents by 11 a game.

Le Moyne, 17-6 overall, is the number one seed out of the Southwest Division after finishing in a tie with Pace. The Dolphins, 2-2 in their last four, held off Saint Anselm in the quarters, 64-62, for their 12^th win in 13 home games this season.

This will be the third straight conference tournament in which the two teams have met at Le Moyne and in each of the previous two, the home team has prevailed, 67-45 in the 2019 finals and 54-51 in the 2020 quarters. All told, Bentley has lost five in a row to the Dolphins, including 53-50 about seven weeks ago at the Dana Center.

All of Bentley's usual starting five were recognized by the conference earlier this week. Graduate forward Autumn Ceppi (Bedford/Dana Hall School) was named to the All-Northeast-10 first team, junior guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) was a second-team honoree and senior guard Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wis./Appleton North HS) received third-team honors for the second time. In addition, sophomore Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) and freshman Amanda Kabantu (Portland, Maine/Portland HS) were part of the All-Rookie Team.

Ceppi, after three double-doubles in the last four games, has team-best averages of 14.1 points and 7.2 rebounds. She's also the team-leader in assists, steals and blocks.

Thompson and Brekke, who have combined for 101 three-pointers, follow at 12.4 and 11.2 points, respectively. Thompson is third in the NE10 with 57 triples and Brekke has been the conference's most accurate from downtown (.453).

 Whitmore, following a career-game against Franklin Pierce (16 points, 12 rebounds), produces 8.8 points and 6.2 rebounds a game. Kabantu had a 7.2 average and a .511 field goal percentage. Off the bench, the top scorer has been senior guard Kolleen Bouchard (Houlton, Maine/Houlton HS), at 4.6. She had one of her best games of the season at Franklin Pierce with nine points and six rebounds.

Le Moyne is led by its two All-Northeast-10 honorees, second-teamer Emma Brinker and third0-teamer Erin Fouracre. Brinker averages 13.6 points and 8.7 rebounds, and is a force on the offensive boards with her 109 second most in the conference. Brinker scores 12.8 points a game and also has 99 assists and 42 steals.

The starting five for Le Moyne is completed by juniors Saeeda Abdul-Aziz and Lytoya Baker, along with six-foot-two junior Jenna Zimmerman. Abdul-Aziz had a career-high 25 in the NE10 quarters and is averaging 12.2 points.

In the conference scoring stats, Bentley is second in offense and Le Moyne. The two teams are second and third respectively in scoring defense with Le Moyne second at 57.8 and Bentley third at 58.1. Coach C White's Falcons are 14-2 when scoring at least 63 points, and Le Moyne is 12-0 when allowing less than 60 a game.

In the low-scoring first meeting, Bentley had a tough shooting night across the board, finishing at .313 overall, .222 from deep and .500 free throws. Top scorers were Ceppi (12 points, 11 rebounds) and Brinker (13 point, 10 rebound double-double).

The other semifinal has third-seeded Stonehill at home against fourth-seeded Southern Connecticut. Both those teams advanced with road wins on Monday.