WALTHAM, Mass. – The last two East Region programs to capture the NCAA Division II women's basketball national championship were the Bentley University Falcons in 2014 and the Southern Connecticut State Owls seven years earlier.

Those two programs will square off for the second time this season Saturday at 1:30 pm at the Moore Field House in New Haven, Conn. Fans can watch all the action over the NE10 NOW digital network.

In addition to both owning a national title, each team is coached by an alum. C White is in her third year since succeeding Naismith Hall of Famer Barbara Stevens at Bentley and Kate Lynch, a player on the national championship team, is in her seventh season as Southern's head coach.

Bentley will travel to Connecticut with records of 12-7 overall and 9-4 Northeast-10 after dropping three in a row, including 78-76 Wednesday to Saint Anselm. The Falcons are tied for third in the NE10 with Le Moyne, two games back of first-place Assumption.

Southern Connecticut snapped a three-game slide Wednesday with a 62-58 win at Southern New Hampshire and is currently 11-7 overall and 6-6 conference. The Owls, who have experienced most of their success on their home court (8-2), begin the weekend tied for seventh in the NE10.

Bentley junior forward Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine) is coming off a career-game in the Falcons' tough loss to Saint Anselm. A 12-point-per-game scorer for the season, she scored 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting and also amassed seven rebounds and five assists. A 55 percent shooter over the last five games, she leads the team in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks, and has made 18 of 35 three-pointers.

Wednesday's game also saw senior guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) score 14 points, her most since January 7, and freshman post Julia Elie (Rockland/Rockland HS) matched her career-high with a dozen points. She's made 17 of 31 shots so far this month.

After Whitmore, Bentley's top scorers are Thompson (9.8) and graduate guard Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wis./Appleton North HS) (9.3). Brekke is second in the conference in three-point accuracy (.427), trailing only Southern's Isabella Santoro (.500), and is tied for number two in trifectas made (38).

White spreads the playing time around with 11 averaging at least ten minutes a game and Whitmore, Thompson, Brekke and sophomore guard Amanda Kabantu (Portland, Maine/Portland HS) the only ones playing more than 15 minutes.

Graduate guard Zoe Amalbert leads Southern in scoring (13.5) and is the conference's top playmaker with 89 assists. Junior forward Katie Williamson has bumped her scoring more than six points a game from last year to 11.2 and is also the Owls' top rebounder (7.2) and shot blocker (25). Santoro, 18 of 36 from deep, follows with a 10.7 scoring average.

Bentley will be looking for a season-sweep of the Owls after winning at home back on December 3, 65-55. Thompson, Whitmore and Kabantu all scored in doubles and Bentley was on the mark for 10 of 20 three-pointers. The Falcons won the second half, 38-27, after trailing by one at the break.

That was the Falcons' ninth consecutive win in a series Bentley leads 32-11.

Bentley is in action only once next week, a Wednesday home game against Southern New Hampshire.