WALTHAM, Mass. – Junior forward Kylie DuChame (Wilmington/Wilmington HS) provided 15 points, 11 rebounds and three steals, and the Falcons fought for two clutch rebounds in the final 40 seconds as the Bentley University women's basketball team remained in a tie for first place in the Northeast-10 Conference with a 63-60 win over Pace University Saturday afternoon on Barbara Stevens Court.

Bentley, ranked 14^th in the latest WBCA Division II coaches poll, improved to 22-5 overall and 17-4 NE10. The Falcons remained deadlocked at the top of the conference standings with Assumption University, a 78-65 winner at Southern New Hampshire.

The two teams will close out the regular season on Tuesday with Bentley hosting Southern Connecticut State and Assumption taking on Adelphi University.

This was a nailbiter with ten lead changes and eight ties, including two of each in the fourth quarter. There was only 20 seconds in which the two clubs were separated by more than six points.

Senior guard Brooke Obar (North Yarmouth, Maine/Greely HS) broke a 54-all tie by sinking two free throws with 4:19 left and it stayed that way until graduate guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) scored on a drive with 2:41 left.

After the Setters cut the margin to one, an inside basket by sophomore post Ciara Norman (Roebling, N.J./Life Center Academy) with 1:19 on the clock pushed the Falcon advantage back to three, 60-57. Pace senior guard Katumina Mansaray (Ontario, Canada) hit the first of two free throws with 41.9 seconds to play and missed the second with Obar hitting the floor to come up with the rebound and a Falcon timeout.

               After the stoppage, senior forward Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) made of two free throws with 14.9 seconds, junior guard Amanda Kabantu (Portland, Maine/Portland HS) went into the stands for the offensive board and Thompson hit the second of two free throws with 9.3 on the clock to make it a four-point game.

Following a Pace lay-up, Thompson returned to the line, converted one of two with 2.7 to play and while the rebound went out of bounds to the Setters, the visitors had just one second left. The long inbound pass was picked off by Whitmore and the Falcons had their 22^nd win.

Bentley led 30-28 at the half, due in large part to a late second quarter 12-3 spurt that erased a five-point Setter advantage. The run included six points by DuCharme, who had ten points in the second and went into the halftime break with 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals, and five from Kabantu.

The third quarter ended with Bentley up 44-43 after a three-pointer from sophomore guard Cassidy Yeomans (Marion/Tabor Academy) returned the lead to the Falcons with 26 seconds left.

There would be two more lead changes in the fourth before Obar's go-ahead free throws.

DuCharme was followed in the scoring column by Thompson and Norman, each with 11 points. Thompson, who did all her scoring in the second half, also had seven assists and four rebounds. Kabantu finished with nine points and three offensive boards, and Yeomans had six.

Four Setters scored in doubles with both sophomore forward Ciara Collins (Bristol, Conn.) and senior guard Shanice Sinclair (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) netting 13.

Pace had the edge in field goal percentage (.491-.417), but the Falcons had slim advantages in most over categories, including three-pointers (5-2), free throws (8-6), rebounds (35-32), turnovers (12-14), points off turnovers (16-12) and second chance points (15-10).