WALTHAM, Mass. – With the regular season rapidly winding down, the Bentley University women's basketball team remains in the hunt for the Northeast Division title in the Northeast-10 Conference.

The next action for coach Barbara Stevens' Falcons is Saturday afternoon when the Falcons will be in Manchester, N.H. to take on Southern New Hampshire University. The 1:30 pm contest from the SNHU Field House can be seen on the NE10 NOW Digital Network.

Bentley, idle since a 78-55 win over St. Michael's last Saturday, will take records of 16-7 overall and 11-4 NE10 to SNHU. The Falcons are currently in third place, a game-and-a-half back of Stonehill and a half-game behind Saint Anselm. Stonehill is the only one of those two teams playing this weekend with the Skyhawks hosting Assumption.

Southern New Hampshire, coming off an 88-81 victory over Saint Anselm, is 14-10 overall and 7-9 NE10, good for a tie for fourth place in the division. The Penmen, since an 8-3 start, have been just under .500 since, at 6-7.

Last time out despite playing without senior center and leading scorer Monica Viapiano (Holden/Holy Name HS), four Falcons scored in doubles and Bentley outshot St. Michael's 51-29 percent to give Stevens her 1,055th career win, including 898 with the Falcons. Freshman guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) finished with a team-best 15 points and sophomore guard Kolleen Bouchard (Houlton, Maine/Houlton HS) matched her career-high of 13 without missing a shot.

Viapiano leads Bentley in scoring (15.2), rebounds (6.7) and blocks (21), and is third in the NE10 in field goal percentage at .554. Her resume includes four 20-point games and four double-doubles, including 11 points and 11 rebounds in a 74-66 win over SNHU back on Dec. 21.

Sophomore guard Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wisc./Appleton North HS) follows at 11.9 points per game. She's scored in doubles in six of the last seven games, a stretch in which she's averaged 12.9 points.

Thompson and graduate forward Megan Lewis (Sevenoaks, England) each score 8.8 points a game. They are also 1-2 on the squad in assists with Thompson leading the way with 79, most by of any NE10 freshman, and Lewis having dished 63.

In Tuesday's win over Saint Anselm, SNHU outscored the Hawks 25-16 during the fourth quarter to gain the upset. Senior guard Karlee Ziliak came in off the bench to knock down five of six three-pointers and finished with a career-high 27 points. Coach Karen Pinkos also received 25 points from senior forward Victoria Dean, who was 9 of 13 inside the arc.

The Penmen have a balanced offensive attack for the season with five players between 9.9 and 12.3 points per game. Dean, one of three players with at least 39 three-pointers, tops the list at 12.3m and junior guard Gyanna Russell follows at 11.3.

As a team, SNHU is third in the NE10 in scoring (71.0) but are last in scoring defense with their opponents averaging 68.5.

In the first meeting this season, Lewis buried six of nine three-pointers and finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds as Bentley prevailed by eight. After trailing by as many as 11 with four minutes left in the second quarter, the Falcons drew within one by halftime and outscored the Penmen 23-16 in the third to take the lead.

Bentley's final two home games of the regular season will be next week, Wednesday against Assumption and Saturday against Franklin Pierce.