LOWELL, Mass. – Sophomore forward Lauren Battista (North Easton/Oliver Ames HS) posted her second straight double-double, finishing with 17 points and 10 boards, and senior forward Lauren Massie (Fairfax Station, Va./West Springfield HS) had a solid all-around game as the Bentley University women's basketball team, ranked second in the USA Today/ESPN/WBCA Division II preseason poll, registered a 76-42 win over UMass-Lowell in the second round of the Northeast-10/CACC Challenge at UMass-Lowell's Costello Athletic Center Sunday afternoon.

Massie knocked down a couple threes while scoring in doubles for the first time since January 2009. She finished with 10 points off the bench, and also filled the stat sheet with six rebounds (four offensive), four steals and three assists.

Bentley, now 2-0 on the season, shot only 35 percent (including just 28 percent in a first half that ended with the Falcons up 35-21), but countered that with a parade to the foul line (a 31-8 advantage in attempts) and a dominance on the boards (52-31).

After taking nearly three minutes to get on the scoreboard, Bentley ran off 13 straight points to open a 13-4 lead with 12:50 left on the first-half clock. Six different players contributed scoring during the run, with both senior guard Meghan Thomann (Andover/Andover HS) and senior forward Shatasia Kearse (Framingham/Lincoln-Sudbury HS) providing three points.

Thomann, who finished with 11 points, buried a pair of three-pointers during a 9-2 spurt sandwiched around halftime that extended the Falcon lead to 19, 40-21.

After the Golden Falcons reduced the Bentley lead to 13, the Falcons put the game away by outscoring Felician 30-11 over a span of 13 minutes. Battista scored Bentley's first eight points during that surge, which made it 70-38 with three minutes to play, and grad student Elise Caira (Wakefield/ Arlington Catholic HS) also played a significant role, with three of her four assists and three of her four steals coming during that stretch.

Following Battista, Thomann and Massie in the scoring column was Kearse, who provided nine points and four rebounds off the bench. Junior guard Courtney Finn (Winthrop/Winthrop HS) finished with eight points and six rebounds, and sophomore forward Jacqui Brugliera (Fitchburg/Wachusett Reg. HS) helped Bentley own the boards, finishing with nine.

Senior guard Destiny Barnette (Paterson, N.J.) carried the offensive load for Felician (0-2), with 15 points on 7-22 shooting.

The Bentley D limited Felician to just 31 percent shooting, including one for nine from outside the three-point line, and forced 30 turnovers.  Those were turned into 32 points, giving the Falcons a +21 advantage in that category. 

The Falcons had 18 more second chance points, 24-6, and made 16 more free throws, 23-7.

Bentley will open its home and Northeast-10 schedule on Wednesday with a 5:30 contest against UMass-Lowell.