Two Upsets, One Last-Second Shot Highlight Wild Sunday in NE10 Women's Quarterfinals.
No. 5 Franklin Pierce 78 @ No. 4 Southern New Hampshire 67
Box Score
The Penmen went on a 7-0 run against the Ravens halfway through the first quarter to take a 13-6 lead. At the end of the opening quarter, Southern New Hampshire outscored Franklin Pierce 21-13.
In the second quarter, Franklin Pierce shot 33% (3 for 9) from behind the arc to cut into the Penmen lead. The Penmen had 15 rebounds and shot 41% from the field. Southern New Hampshire held a 37-31 lead at half.
Both teams were shooting over 50% from the field in the third quarter. Franklin Pierce outscored Southern New Hampshire 21-18. Heading into the final quarter, the Ravens were down by three, 55-52.
In the fourth quarter, the Ravens were 19 for 24 from the free-throw line and outrebounded the Penmen 14-5. Franklin Pierce outscored Southern New Hampshire 26-12 and went on a 19-0 run in the final five minutes of the game to secure the 78-67 win and advance to the NE-10 Semifinals on Thursday against Bentley University.
Penmen senior forward Jess Knight had a double-double as she led all scorers with 26 points and grabbed 14 boards. She shot 11 for 20 from the field. Sophomore forward Meghan Gordon also had a double-double as she had 14 points and 12 rebounds. She shot 4 for 13 from the field and 6 for 8 from the charity stripe.
For the Ravens, sophomore guard Leana Heitmann (Syracuse, NY) and senior guard Anna Badosa Soler (Girona, Spain) combined for 49 points. Heitmann played 39 minutes and had 24 points. She was 7 for 16 from the field and 3 for 8 from behind the arc. She also was 7 for 9 from the free-throw line. Soler played all 40 minutes of the game and had 25 points, along with 7 rebounds. She was 9 for 16 from the field and 6 for 7 from the charity stripe.
- Recap Courtesy FPU Athletics -
No. 6 Southern Connecticut State 58 @ No. 3 Saint Rose 53
Box Score
Southern Connecticut women's basketball defeated the College of Saint Rose, 58-53 in a NE10 Quarterfinals upset on Sunday night. The Owls will go back to the NE10 Semifinals for the first time since the 2021-22 season. Makenzie Helms led the team with 15 points and Rheyna Steinauer had 14 points of her own in the Quarterfinal victory.
Makenzie Helms led the team with 15 points, as she shot 6-for-13 from the floor. In addition, she was 100% from the free-throw line, had a team-best of six assists and grabbed three rebounds.
Rheyna Steinauer had 14 points, as she was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line, grabbed four rebounds and had two steals. Delaney Hainesrecorded nine points, as she shot a team-best of 4-for-4 from beyond the arc against Saint Rose.
Julianna Bonilla had six points for the Owls, as she had two made three-pointers and three rebounds. Katie Williamson and Ashley Evanshad four points each against the Golden Knights. Williamson had a team-best of six rebounds and two steals, as Evans had a team-best of two blocks and two assists.
In the first quarter, the Owls started off with a 6-0 run, as Makenzie Helms recorded four of those points and Katie Williamson added a floating jumper of her own, in the first five minutes of play. However, the Golden Knights got their scoring going and took over the lead at 2:57. Jillian Martin had a made layup and Delaney Haines had a three-pointer, to make Saint Rose's advantage, just two points. The Golden Knights continued to respond as they finished the quarter with a four-point lead over the Owls, 17-13.
In the second quarter, Saint Rose continued to build their momentum that they had in the first quarter. Southern Connecticut had no answer until the fifth minute when Rheyna Steinauer beat the defense, to get the made layup. Steinauer would go on to have a total of eight points for the Owls in the second quarter alone. Southern Connecticut came back and went into halftime, down by two points, 25-23.
In the third quarter, Southern came out of the locker room ready to go, as they quickly evened the score at 25-25. Seconds later, from a pass from Makenzie Helms, Julianna Bonilla hit a three-pointer, that put the Owls up by two points. Both teams would trade the lead in the next few minutes, with 14 seconds left, Hope Fox made a layup that ensured a three-point advantage for the Owls.
In the fourth quarter, Helms got the scoring started with a made layup for Southern in the first minute. Both Saint Rose and Southern continued to score; however, the Owls had a 12-point lead with three minutes to go. The Golden Knights didn't back down as they responded with a comeback that got them within three points of the lead with 16 seconds remaining. Nevertheless, Rheyna Steinauermade two important free-throws, that gave Southern, a 58-53 victory over Saint Rose as the clock ran out.
- Recap Courtsey SCSU Athletics -
No. 7 Pace 54 @ No. 2 Assumption 55
Box Score
Assumption started out on fire, going up 8-2 in the early stages of the first quarter. Pace slowly made their way back into the game, as Tower Lorde's first points made the score 8-7 for the home side. The Hounds had another run in them in the first quarter, capitalized by a Kaijhe Hall layup, making it 18-11 after one.
The Greyhounds had more action offensively in the beginning of the second quarter, as Molly Stokes and Marina Callahan both converted from the field for Assumption's first double digit lead. It got as high as 15, however the Setters stringed together a couple baskets to make it a single digit game again. Shanice Sinclar's driving layup at 3:06 forced a Hounds timeout, with the score reading 32-26 in favor of the Hounds. Capped off by a wild shot to beat the shot clock by Amanda Mieczkowski on their last possession, Assumption headed into the intermission, up 38-30.
Pace came out of the halftime break strong, outscoring the Hounds 9-4 in the first five minutes to cut the deficit to 42-39 leading into the media timeout. Katumina Mansaray was getting going, with 13 points at this stoppage. In a bizarre third quarter, the Greyhounds went scoreless for the last 6:11 minutes and only scored four points. Going into the last 10, the Hounds led 42-41.
The scoring drought continued for the Hounds early in the fourth quarter until Marina Callahan finally got a turnaround jumper to go at 6:44. However, the Setters had their first lead of the game at 45-44. Mansaray was having the game of her life, scoring two free throws at 4:49 to give the Setters a 52-47 lead. Assumption, despite having a rough offensive second half, kept their defense strong to keep themselves in the game. Mansaray converted again from the field, putting the Setters up 54-49 with 1:48. From then on, the Hounds would lock in. Callahan scored on two straight layups to pull Assumption within one, and then Assumption would force a miss from Pace and secure the rebound with 14 seconds to go. With one more chance to win the game, Assumption would turn to their leading scorer, Molly Stokes, who got to the bucket and scored with four seconds to go to give the Hounds a lead. Pace had a chance at the buzzer but fell short, and the Hounds hung out to defeat Pace in the quarterfinals, 55-54.
- Recap Courtesy Assumption Athletics -
No. 8 American Int'l 61 @ No. 1 Bentley 73
Box Score
Senior forward Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS)scored 17, pushing her career total to 998, and collected nine rebounds as top-seeded Bentley University posted a 73-61 win over number eight American International College in the quarterfinals of the Northeast-10 Conference Women's Basketball Championships Sunday afternoon on the Dana Center's Barbara Stevens Court.
Bentley, two-time defending Northeast-10 champions, improved to 24-5 overall and advanced to the conference semifinals for the 38th time in 41 years. The Falcons, who were 22nd in last week's WBCA Division II coaches poll, will host fifth-seeded Franklin Pierce on Thursday at 6 pm for the right to play in next Sunday's championship game.
Following a slow start, Bentley took a 36-27 lead into the halftime break after outscoring the Yellow Jackets 25-15 in the second. Whitmore finished the half with 11, including nine in the second quarter.
The Falcon first half featured runs of 9-0, 7-0 and 14-3. Whitmore scored the final four of the 9-0, both on elbow jumpers, and the 7-0 included two baskets from junior forward Kylie DuCharme(Wilmington/Wilmington HS).
The 14-3, which made it a 36-24 Falcon advantage, included six by freshman guard Niya Morgen(Swampscott/St. Mary's HS) and five from Whitmore.
After eight straight by the Yellow Jackets (15-15) cut the Falcon advantage to two, 40-38, with just under seven left in the third, Bentley responded with an 8-0 run of their own to return the difference to ten. DuCharme hit two free throws, Whitmore scored on a drive, sophomore post Ciara Norman(Roebling, N.J./Life Center Academy) hit a jumper in the paint and junior guard Amanda Kabantu (Portland, Maine/Portland HS) made two from the charity stripe.
Bentley closed out the quarter with another surge, this one 8-2 to send the two teams to the benches with the home team up 12, 56-44. That included a pair of inside baskets from DuCharme and two free throws apiece from Morgen and Whitmore.
AIC closed to within six a couple times in the fourth before Bentley put the game out of reach with a 6-1 spurt that included a three-ball from graduate guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS).
Joining Whitmore in doubles was DuCharme and sophomore guard Cassidy Yeomans(Marion/Tabor Academy), with 12 and 11 points, respectively. DuCharme also had ten rebounds for her tenth double-double and Yeomans had five assists in 29 turnover-free minutes.
Graduate student Briana Lee (Jersey City, N.J.) led AIC with 25 points, including 19 in the second half.
- Recap Courtesy of Bentley Athletics -
NE10 Women's Basketball Championship
First Round – Friday, March 1st:
Game 1: #5 Franklin Pierce 65, #12 Saint Michael's 63
Game 2: #6 Southern Connecticut 60, #11 New Haven 44
Game 3: #7 Pace 55, #10 Adelphi 46
Game 4: #8 American International 64, #9 Saint Anselm 56
Quarterfinals – Sunday, March 3rd:
Game 5: #8 American International 61, #1 Bentley 73
Game 6: #7 Pace 54, #2 Assumption 55
Game 7: #6 Southern Connecticut 58, #3 Saint Rose 53
Game 8: #5 Franklin Pierce 78, Southern New Hampshire 67
Semifinals – Thursday, March 7th (at highest remaining seeds):
Game 9: No. 1 Bentley vs. No. 5 Franklin Pierce
Game 10: No. 2 Assumption vs. No. 6 Southern Connecticut State
Championship – Sunday, March 10th (at highest remaining seed):
Game 11: Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner (at highest remaining seed)
ABOUT THE NE10
The NE10 is an association of 12 diverse institutions serving student-athletes across 24 NCAA Division II sports. Together we build brilliant futures by embracing the journey of every student-athlete.
Each year, 4,500 of those student-athletes compete in conference championships in 24 sports, making the NE10 the largest DII conference in the country in terms of sport sponsorship. Leading the way in the classroom, on the field and within the community, the NE10 is proud of its comprehensive program and the experience it provides student-athletes.
