WALTHAM, Mass. – The Bentley University women's basketball team will be looking to reach the 20-win plateau for the 36^th time when they take on Southern New Hampshire University Wednesday night on Barbara Stevens Court. For those who can't make it to the Dana Center, the 5:30 pm game can be viewed over the NE10 NOW digital network.

Bentley, which remained eighth in this week's WBCA Division II coaches poll, has won four straight and eight of ten against the Penmen, including 59-52 earlier this season and 61-49 in last year's Northeast-10 championship game.

This season, the Falcons have won 11 straight, their longest streak since 2018-19, to improve to 19-2 overall and 14-1 NE10. Coach C White's squad leads the conference by two games with Southern New Hampshire and Assumption (Saturday's opponent) both tied for second place.

SNHU, which has won four straight since back-to-back losses at Saint Rose and Assumption last month, is 14-5 overall and 12-3 conference.

Bentley is coming off a 64-39 win over Adelphi, the tenth consecutive game in which the Falcons kept the opponent under 60 and the tenth time in the last 12 to a field goal percentage under .400. Only three Division II teams nationally yield less than the Falcons' 51.9 scoring defense mark.

Junior forward Kylie DuCharme (Wilmington/Wilmington HS), a strong candidate for the team's Most Improved award, had 20 points, 12 rebounds and three steals against Adelphi. It was her sixth double-double and raised her season norms to 10.6 points and 8.4 rebounds.

Senior forward Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) and graduate guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) are Bentley's top scorers. Whitmore averages 13.3 points and 6.6 rebounds, and Thompson follows at 10.6 points with 68 assists. Thompson is nine helpers away from becoming only the second Falcon with 200 career threes and 300 assists (Beth Biasotti '96).

Among the several categories that Bentley is number one in the conference is bench scoring. That's due in large part to freshman guard Niya Morgen (Swampscott/St. Mary's HS) and senior guard Brooke Obar (No. Yarmouth, Maine/Greely HS), a team captain along with Thompson and Whitmore. Morgen averages 9.6 points, Obar is at 7.3, and the two have combined to make  51 of 105 three-pointers.

Southern New Hampshire features the top scoring duo in the Northeast-10, graduate guard Adriana Timberlake and senior forward Jess Knight. Timberlake, the current NE10 Player of the Week and last year's Player of the Year, leads the conference in scoring (18.0) and Knight is fourth in both points per game (14.5) and rebounds (9.1). For the season, the two have been responsible for just about half of the team's points.

Sophomore forward Meghan Gordon follows with 12.2 points per game in her first season as a starter and is also second in rebounds (6.9).

As a team, SNHU is fourth in the NE10 in scoring (64.3) and eighth in scoring defense (58.8). That contrasts to Bentley being second in both categories.

In the previous meeting this season, Bentley erupted for 28 in the fourth quarter after trailing 36-31 following three. DuCharme led the way with 19 points and nine rebounds, and Gordon also had 19 for SNHU, which was held to a .288 field goal percentage and only three trifectas in 18 attempts.

All-time, Bentley is 49-8 against the Penmen. In last year's championship final, the Falcons went wire-to-wire for a 61-49 win with Whitmore earning Most Outstanding Player honors. She scored 17 and Thompson followed with 15.

Saturday's game at Assumption is a 1:30 pm start at Laska Gym in Worcester.