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Megan Lewis
Megan Lewis

Stevens 1 Away from 900 Bentley Wins as Falcons Prepare to Face Assumption

WALTHAM, Mass. – Tennessee's Pat Summitt, UConn's Geno Auriemma and Stanford's Tara VanDerveer are the only NCAA women's basketball coaches who have won 900 games at one school.

That number could grow to four as soon as Wednesday night when Barbara Stevens and her Bentley University Falcons host Assumption College on the Dana Center court that bears her name. Tipoff is set for 5:30 pm with a webcast available on the NE10 NOW digital network.

Stevens, the fourth winningest coach in NCAA women's basketball history (behind the above three) and a 2020 finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, will bring a record of 1056-289, including 899-198 in 34 Bentley seasons, into the game.

Her current team is 17-7 overall and 12-4 Northeast-10, good for a tie for second place in the conference's Northeast Division. The Falcons have won their last two and trail first-place Stonehill by one game in the loss column.

Assumption, which will be either the fourth or fifth seed out of the Northeast Division for the upcoming conference championship tournament, will come into the Dana at 13-12 overall and 7-10 conference. The Hounds are coming off a 62-53 loss to Stonehill after winning their previous two contests.

Bentley made it consecutive victories for the first time since late January with a 76-67 win at Southern New Hampshire Saturday. Senior center Monica Viapiano (Holden/Holy Name HS) was a force inside in the first half, scoring 16, and finished with 22 points. Graduate forward Megan Lewis (Sevenoaks, England) and freshman guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) also played a key role in the win, with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Viapiano, who has climbed to sixth in the conference in scoring (15.5) and is third in field goal percentage (.553), has averaged 17.1 points and 7.1 rebounds over the last ten games. In seven of those contests, she's corralled at least three offensive rebounds.

Sophomore guard Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wisc./Appleton North HS) is next on the scoring list at 11.8 per game and both Lewis and Thompson provide nine points a game. Thompson is the leader among NE10 freshmen in assists and number two in the conference overall in assist-turnover ratio at nearly 2-to-1.

Assumption, tenth in the conference in scoring at 59.4, has just one double figure scorer, senior guard Brianna Capacchione. She has connected 49 times from three and is averaging 14.1 points and five assists.

Coach Kerry Phayre has also received 46 three-balls from sophomore guard Emme Poulin, who is second in scoring with an 8.6 average.

Junior forward Terri Falayi is among the conference's top rebounders, averaging 10.9, and junior guard Meghan Reen is third in the NE10 in assists with 122.

When the two teams met in Worcester in early December, Brekke scored 21 points and the Falcons limited the Hounds to a .305 field goal percentage as Bentley prevailed 64-47.

Bentley will also be at home Saturday with Franklin Pierce providing the opposition on Senior Day (1:30 pm).