WALTHAM, Mass. – After winning its first three games by an average of 20.4 points, the Bentley University women's basketball team will be back in action Saturday night with a 6 pm non-conference game at St. Thomas Aquinas College. Fans who don't make the trip to Sparkill, N.Y. can watch live by clicking here.

Bentley, which was 18^th in the preseason WBCA Division II coaches poll, improved to 3-0 Wednesday with a 59-48 win over the University of New Haven in its home and Northeast-10 opener. Dating back to last season, coach C White's team has won 11 of its last 12, including the 2023 NE10 championship game.

St. Thomas Aquinas, which is coming off a 21-9 season that culminated with a trip to the NCAA Division II East Regional, is off to a 1-2 start. Losses to American International (82-73) and Holy Family (74-39) have been sandwiched around a 79-70 win against Dominican (N.Y.).

Among the eight Falcons who have played in all three games, five will make the trip to STAC with scoring averages of 10.0 points per game or more. Senior forward Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) and graduate guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) head the list, at 13.0 and 12.3 respectively. Thompson also has ten assists and a 3.3-1 assist-turnover ratio.

The other three have been doing their scoring in a non-starting role. Sophomore post Ciara Norman (Roebling, N.J./Life Center Academy) and junior forward Kylie DuCharme (Wilmington/Wilmington HS) each average 10.3 points and freshman guard Niya Morgen (Swampscott/St. Mary's HS) is at an even 10.0. That trio has combined to make 34 of 53 field goal attempts so far.

Coach C White's team has limited its opponents to a .381 field goal percentage, has allowed only 13 three-pointers in 41 attempts and has a +14.0 rebound margin.

St. Thomas Aquinas returns the four players who started at least 20 games last season, including junior guard Sarah Ericson, the 2022-23 East Coast Conference Player of the Year and a first-team D2CCA All-East Region honoree last season. She's off to a strong start this season, averaging 18 points and 7.7 rebounds.

Junior forward Erin Leahy has also been a factor, averaging 12.3 points and 8.7 rebounds.

Those two are shooting 43 percent overall while their teammates have a combined field goal percentage of just .308. The Spartans score 63.7 points a game and give up 75.3 per.

Bentley and STAC have met only once previously, a 64-51 Falcon win in December 2019.

There is only one game on Bentley's schedule next week, Tuesday afternoon at American International (4:30 pm).