PDF
Written by: Robbie LaBrie
The Lady Falcons did not finish the regular season strong, dropping three straight to end the year, but it’s all good after Kim Brennan and the rest of the team dominated the second half of their quarterfinal game in the Northeast-10 tournament against Merrimack.
The Falcons entered the tournament as the four seed behind Franklin Pierce, Pace and Stonehill, in that order. Bentley drew Merrimack, the number 12 seed, in their first game. The Falcons came into the game favored as they had already beaten Merrimack twice.
Kim Brennan was the story of this game, dropping a school record 35 points and leading the Falcons to an 88-77 victory, advancing them to the semi-finals of the NE-10 tournament.
The win did not come easy, however. Merrimack may have been the 12 seed, but they came to play in this matchup.
The game started slow, staying tight for the first ten minutes, but then Merrimack went off, scoring 19 unanswered points, and with five minutes left in the first half, Merrimack held a commanding 37-19 lead and Falcon fans were having painful memories of Monday night’s early exit for the Falcon men.
But Brennan and company would not roll over. They were down 16 with two minutes left in the first half, but the Falcons responded with a 10-2 run before the intermission to cut the deficit to only 8 heading into the break.
It was a Collette Josey and Kim Brennan show in the second half, as Brennan continued to build on her historic night. Josey added 17 in the second half alone to help Bentley grab the lead and break away. She also grabbed 8 rebounds in the half.
A little way into the second half, Bentley went on a 8-0 run to finally give them the lead over Merrimack, one which they would never give back.
Merrimack would not go away easily, though, as they cut the lead to within three with a minute and a half left in the game, but the Falcons came down the floor and scored quickly on a Katherine Goodwin layup, and Brennan made some free throws to secure the record and put the game on ice for the Falcons.
Brennan’s 35 points tops the previous record of 34, set by Tracie Seymour in November 1990, before some Falcons were even born. Brennan also added six assists, five boards and a pair of steals to top off the record-setting night.
Josey finished with her 12th double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Goodwin complimented the pair nicely with 14 points of her own, providing the spark and quality production she’s given Coach Stevens and the Falcons all year.
The win was huge for the Falcons, especially considering that they had dropped three in a row to finish off the regular season, granted the losses came against three strong teams.
On February 17, the Falcons relinquished an 8-point lead with six minutes left in the second half to drop a tough one to UMass-Lowell in Lowell. The Falcons trailed early in this one, but made a comeback before the offense ran out of steam late in the second half.
Then three days later, the Falcons lost to Franklin Pierce, who had just lost their first game of the season to Merrimack. The game was at home, but the Falcons kept it close, which is something everybody has had trouble doing with Franklin Pierce so far this season.
Finally, on February 24, the Falcons closed out their regular season with a home loss against Stonehill. The Falcons played great defense in this game, but the scoring wasn’t there, as they fell 55-53 on a pair of free throws in the last six seconds by Stonehill.
Despite the losses, Bentley expected to come into this tournament game and take care of business, and that’s just what they did. They weren’t alone, however, as all of the top seeds won their games, leaving only the aforementioned top four teams left in the tournament.
This means Bentley will take on the number one seed, Franklin Pierce, in Rindge, NH on Friday. Franklin Pierce beat New Haven on Tuesday, 79-68, and will be looking to carry their momentum into the game against Bentley.
Franklin Pierce has had their way against most of their opponents this year, finishing the season with a 21-1 record in conference and a 26-1 overall record. The Ravens are the number two team in the nation in NCAA Division II. Two of the Falcons’ six losses this year have come against Franklin Pierce in the teams’ only two meetings.
The first battle of the birds came back in December, when the Ravens defeated the Falcons in New Hampshire, 71-61.
Then the two teams faced off last week, and Franklin Pierce got the better of that matchup, although Bentley made it closer, 77-73.
Bentley will be looking for a little sweet redemption from last year too, after Franklin Pierce took down the Falcons 93-81 in the Northeast-10 championship game. Bentley is not looking to let that happen again, but Franklin Pierce is coming in hot.
The Falcons will certainly need to bring their best game to have any chance against Franklin Pierce in their home gym, but this is an experienced team that knows how to win basketball games, so anything is possible.
Even if they do make it by Franklin Pierce, the Falcons will face a tough matchup in the conference finals against the winner of the Pace-Stonehill matchup. The Falcons lost in New York in their only matchup this season with Pace, and they split the season series with Stonehill as each team won their respective away game.
But for now, Bentley is only focused on Franklin Pierce. It will take another big effort from the Falcon stars like Brennan, Josey and Goodwin, while everybody else will need to be on top of their game as well.
Franklin Pierce can be beat, as was proven by Merrimack a couple weeks ago, but to beat the Ravens, you have to be firing on all cylinders. Win or lose, the Falcons will be leaving it all on the floor.
Comments on this entry are closed.