WALTHAM, Mass. – Second-place in the Northeast-10 Conference's Northeast Division, and the accompanying quarterfinal home game, will be on the line Tuesday night when the Bentley University women's basketball team visits Saint Anselm College in the final game of the regular season. Game time at Stoutenburgh Gymnasium is set for 5:30 pm with the webcast available on the NE10 NOW digital network.

The winner will be the number two seed and will host the third seed out of the Southwest Division Sunday afternoon. The other team will be seeded third and will have to travel to New York for the quarterfinals.

Both teams are deadlocked in the standings with 14-4 conference records. Bentley will make the trip to Manchester, N.H. with a 19-7 overall record and a four-game winning streak. Saint Anselm's record of 18-6 includes 7-2 on its home court.

Bentley and Saint Anselm met previously on Feb. 4 in Waltham with the Falcons closing with a 7-0 run to pull out a 71-68 victory. The game was tied at 33 at the half and at 53 after three before the Hawks scored the first eight points of the fourth. Still down four with under two to play, the Falcons battled back and took the lead for good on a jumper from freshman guard and current NE10 Rookie of the Week Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) with 27 seconds left.

Bentley will make the trip to Saint Anselm following a 75-52 win over Franklin Pierce on Saturday, a game that saw the Falcons vault out to a 28-8 lead after the opening quarter. Junior center Monica Viapiano (Holden/Holy Name HS) led the way with 21 points, Thompson followed with 14, and senior forward Maddy Springfield (Jaffrey, N.H./Conant HS) helped with 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.

Viapiano, Bentley's leading scorer with a 15.9 average, and graduate forward Megan Lewis (Sevenoaks, England) both will enter Tuesday's contest within reach of joining 36 former Falcons in the Falcons' 1,000-point club. Lewis, who averages 8.7 points, has 985, seven more than Viapiano's current total.

In between Viapiano and Lewis on Bentley's season scoring list are sophomore guard Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wisc./Appleton North HS) and Thompson. Brekke produces 11.9 points per game and leads the team in steals (34) and three-pointers (44). Thompson, who has connected 42 times from deep, provides nearly ten points a game, as well as 3.4 assists.

With a win, Barbara Stevens' team would reach the 20-win mark for the fifth straight year, the ninth time in ten years and the 31st time in her 34 seasons on the Bentley bench.

This year's team is 13-0 when scoring at least 71 points and 10-2 when holding the opposition to less than 60. Bentley leads the NE10 in both field goal percentage (.444) and free throw percentage (.789), and is also third in rebound margin (+5.0).

Saint Anselm, the most prolific rebounding team in the conference and the defending NCAA Division II East Region champion, features the conference's top two scorers in six-foot senior Shannon Ryan and junior guard Peyton Steinman. Combined, the duo provide over 42 points and 22 rebounds a game.

Ryan, the NE10 Player of the Week for the fifth time, is at the top of the NE10 scoring and rebound lists with averages of 22.6 points and 14.7 rebounds, and also had 51 blocks. Steinman averages 19.8 points, 8.2 rebounds and four assists.

In last week's NCAA Division II East Region rankings, Bentley was fourth and Saint Anselm was seventh. The top three were Adelphi, Stonehill and USciences.