WALTHAM, Mass. – After completing the regular season a game shy of 20 victories, the Bentley University Falcons will launch their bid for a record 21st Northeast-10 Conference championship Sunday afternoon when they take on Le Moyne College out in Syracuse, N.Y. The 2 pm game from Ted Grant Court can be viewed live on the NE10 NOW digital network.

It's an unusual situation for the Falcons as they will be playing a road quarterfinal game for the first time since 2006. Bentley, 19-8 overall and 14-5 in conference play, is the number three seed out of the Northeast Division following a 68-61 loss to Saint Anselm Tuesday in the regular season finale. Le Moyne is the Southwest Division's number two seed after finishing the regular season at 18-8 overall and 14-5 NE10.

In order for Coach Barbara Stevens' Falcons to advance to the semifinals for the 36th time in the championship's 39-year history, they'll have to bring a halt to Le Moyne's three-game winning streak in the series. The Dolphins prevailed 69-55 on their home court a month ago, shut down the Falcons 67-45 in the NE10 championship game last March and posted a 58-40 win in last year's regular season match-up.

In this year's game, Le Moyne buried five three-pointers before Bentley got on the scoreboard and never relinquished the lead. Freshman guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS), the current NE10 Rookie of the Week, led Bentley with 18 points and senior center Monica Viapiano (Holden/Holy Name HS) followed with 14.

Viapiano, Bentley's leading scorer for the season, and graduate forward Megan Lewis (Sevenoaks, England), 13-4 in 17 career postseason games, will both enter the game within reach of the 1,000-point mark, a level 36 Falcons have previously reached.

Viapiano will make the trek to Syracuse with 988 points and Lewis is right behind her at 987.

Viapiano, the only NE10 player who ranks in the top four in both field goal percentage (.556) and free throw accuracy (.869), finished the regular season with averages of 15.7 points and seven rebounds. She's put up at least 20 in four of the last eight contests.

The only Falcon who has started every game and the MVP of the 2018 NE10 championships, Lewis has averaged 8.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists during her final collegiate season.

Bentley has also been receiving strong play from sophomore guards Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wisc./Appleton North HS) and Kolleen Bouchard (Houlton, Maine/Houlton HS), as well as Thompson.

Thompson has averaged 15.2 points in the last five games, raising her season norm to 9.8. Brekke is the Falcons' number two scorer for the season, providing 12.1 a game. Bouchard scored a career-high 14 against Saint Anselm and has a .621 field goal percentage, including 7 of 12 from outside the arc.

Stevens, a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for the second straight year, is 75-15 in conference championship games. She recently earned her 900th Bentley win and is fourth in NCAA women's basketball history with 1,058 career victories.

Le Moyne, which secured the number two seed with a 55-42 win over Pace on Tuesday, is led by senior guard McKayla Roberts, the program's all-time leading scorer (1,762 points) and playmaker (614 assists), as well as the NE10's all-time leader in three-pointers (293). This season, she's averaging 17.6 points and nearly six assists while shooting better than 40 percent from outside the arc.

Redshirt junior Liz Millea follows at 13.9 points a game and is also a threat from deep with 63 treys. Six-foot-two sophomore Jenna Zimmerman is also in double figures in the scoring column (10.7) and is the team's top rebounder (7.8) and shot blocker (56).

In the earlier meeting this season, Millea sank seven three-pointers for 23 points and Roberts followed with 21.

Bentley, fourth in this week's NCAA Division II East Region rankings, is fourth in the NE10 in scoring (70.7) and seventh in scoring defense (60.4). Le Moyne, eighth in the regional rankings, is second in fewest points allowed (55.7) and is fifth in offense (67.8).

The conference championship gets underway tonight with Southern New Hampshire hosting American International and Assumption visiting Pace in first round games.

The other quarterfinal matchups on Sunday have Saint Anselm at home against New Haven, Adelphi taking on the AIC-SNHU winner and Stonehill hosting the Assumption-Pace winner. The semifinals are Thursday with the Bentley-Le Moyne winner paired up against the winner of the Stonehill game.

NORTHEAST-10 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS

First Round ­ Friday, February 28

Game 1:  #5 SW American International at #4 NE Southern New Hampshire – 7:00 PM
Game 2:  #5 NE Assumption at #4 SW Pace – 5:30 PM

Quarterfinals ­ Sunday, March 1

Game 3:  Game 1 winner at #1 SW Adelphi – 2:00 PM
Game 4:  Game 2 winner at #1 NE Stonehill – 2:00 PM
Game 5:  #3 NE Bentley at #2 SW Le Moyne – 2:00 PM
Game 6:  #3 SW New Haven at #2 NE Saint Anselm – 2:00 PM

Semifinals ­ Thursday, March 5 (at highest remaining seeds):

Game 7:  Game 6 winner vs. Game 3 winner – 7:00 PM
Game 8:  Game 5 winner vs. Game 4 winner – 7:00 PM

Championship ­ Sunday, March 8 (at highest remaining seed):

Game 9:  Game 8 winner vs. Game 7 winner – 1:00 PM