MANCHESTER, N.H. – Graduate guard Kari Brekke (Appleton, Wis./Appleton North HS) scored 14 points on five-of-six shooting, junior guard Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) added 12 and the freshman class contributed 27 points and 13 rebounds as Bentley University opened its Northeast-10 Conference schedule with a 72-52 win over Saint Anselm College in women's basketball action Wednesday night at Stoutenburgh Gym.

It was the third straight coast-to-coast victory for Bentley to start the season. Saint Anselm, which had shot 52 percent in its first two games, was under 30 percent for most of the night.

Bentley dominated in the paint, 40-20, with six of the Falcons' first ten points coming inside. A spinning lay-up by Whitmore, a driving lay-up by sophomore Amanda Kabantu (Portland, Maine/Portland HS) and two free throws by Brekke gave the Falcons a 6-0 lead less than 100 seconds into the game.

Freshman post Julie Elie (Rockland, Mass./Rockland HS) scored six of her career-high 12 in the opening quarter, and it ended with Bentley up 19-9 following the first of three triples from freshman guard Cassidy Yeomans (Marion, Mass./Tabor Academy).

A second-quarter 8-0 burst extended Bentley's lead to 18 at 32-14. A lay-up by Elie was bookended by three-pointers launched by Yeomans and Brekke.

Bentley, up 34-19 at the half, erupted for 26 points in the third, which resulted in a commanding 60-36 lead. The duo from Maine combined for 14 of the 26 with Whitmore scoring eight in the stanza and Kabantu five.

The Falcon advantage peaked at 28, 66-38, with Yeomans connected again from deep with 8:16 to play in the fourth.

Whitmore and Brekke, in addition to their scoring contributions, helped Bentley outrebound the 1-2 Hawks, 37-28. Whitmore finished with seven and Brekke had five.

In addition to the 12 points from Elie, the production from the freshman class included 11 from Yeomans and four from Ciara Norman (Roebling, N.J./Life Center Academy). Elie also had five rebounds and two assists, and the other two each grabbed four.

The top scorer for Saint Anselm was senior guard McKenzy Ouellette (West Newfield, Maine), who scored seven of her ten in the final quarter.

Bentley outshot the home team 48-31 percent and made five of 14 three-pointers. The 27 from the freshmen resulted in the Falcon bench outscoring the starters, 38-34.

Bentley will return to Manchester next Tuesday to take on Southern New Hampshire University.