WALTHAM, Mass. – After yielding less than 50 points in a game for the fifth time this season, the Bentley University women's basketball team will be back on Barbara Stevens Court Saturday afternoon for a 1:30 pm Northeast-10 game against Franklin Pierce University (NE10NOW.tv/bentleyfalcons with production from Bridgewater TV).

Bentley, a top five team nationally in both scoring defense and opponents field goal percentage, is riding its third four-game winning streak of the season, a stretch in which coach C White's team has allowed only 51.2 points per game and 11 three-pointers in 59 attempts.

The Falcons, who were 18^th in the latest WBCA Division II coaches poll and eighth in the D2CSC media poll, return from Wednesday's 72-48 win at St. Michael's College with records of 12-2 overall and 7-1, good for a first-place tie with Southern New Hampshire.

Franklin Pierce, 9-4 overall and 4-4 NE10, has won five of its last six following a 4-3 start. The four losses have been to teams with overall winning percentages of .692 or better: SNHU, Saint Rose, American International and Assumption. On Wednesday, the Ravens gave up only 19 first-half points in a 68-54 win at Adelphi University.

Bentley, in the wire-to-wire victory at St. Michael's, limited the Purple Knights to 24 points in each half, a .306 field goal percentage and only two three-pointers in 18 attempts. Meanwhile, three Falcons scored in double figures, including senior forward Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) and sophomore guard Cassidy Yeomans (Marion/Tabor Academy). The two were a combined 10 of 11 from the field and perfect on six attempts from three.

Freshman guard and two-time NE10 Rookie of the Week Niya Morgen (Swampscott/St. Mary's HS) finished with a season-high 15 points, the third straight conference game she's been in double figures off the bench. Whitmore followed with 14 points and Yeomans matched her career-best with 12 points, all from outside the arc.

Whitmore tops the scoring list for the season at 12.8 points, and graduate guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS), the NE10 leader in three-pointers made (30), follows at 11.4. Morgen, whose .529 accuracy rate from three is a conference-best, is next with a 9.9 average, and junior forward Kylie DuCharme (Wilmington/Wilmington HS) provides 9.4 points and 8.2 rebounds a game.

Fifty-five percent of Franklin Pierce's offense comes from the trio of senior guard Anna Badosa Solar, six-four senior Colette Mulderig and sophomore guard Kenzie Sirowich. Badosa Solar leads the team with 13.7 points per game, 45 assists and 29 steals. Mulderig follows at 10.9 and is third in the NE10 in blocks (22), and Sirowich provides 9.1 points and 7.7 rebounds a game.

In the win at Adelphi Wednesday, Mulderig scored a career-best 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and Sirowich had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double.

Bentley, 43-10 all-time against Franklin Pierce with 13 wins in the last 14 meetings, was 3-0 against the Ravens last year. After regular season wins by 36 and 27 points, the Falcons claimed a 70-54 win in the NE10 quarterfinals. Bentley was down one at the half but rode a 15-point second-half by Whitmore to the victory. She finished with 23 points while Mulderig led FPU with 21 points and 12 boards.

Bentley will be on the road twice next week, playing at Southern Connecticut Tuesday and Pace University Saturday.