Freshman guard Kim Brennan filled the stat sheet with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals, and senior post Vanessa Lux trailed her by a point in the scoring column, as Bentley led from start to finish in a 60-44 victory over UMass-Lowell in Northeast-10 women's basketball yesterday afternoon at the Dana Center.
Bentley, ranked seventh in the preseason USA Today/WBCA Division II coaches poll, improved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the NE-10 with its third straight victory.
UMass-Lowell, limited to just five first-half field goals, dropped to 1-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference.
With the River Hawks missing their first 10 field goal attempts, Bentley shot out to a 15-3 lead after eight minutes. UMass-Lowell finally hit its first shot 8:46 into the contest, and used consecutive 3-pointers by freshman Krissy Little and sophomore Megan Berry to get back within five, 19-14.
Bentley dominated the rest of the first half, outscoring the visitors 13-3 over the final 7:25 (despite a three-minute dry spell after beginning the run) to open a commanding 32-17 lead. Lux had seven of the 13, and Brennan had four, including a jumper to beat the halftime buzzer.
Bentley was never threatened in the second half with the differential dipping below the halftime margin of 15 just once, with about 66 seconds left.
The highest scoring game of Brennan's short collegiate career saw her make eight of 12 shots from the field, including two of her three treys. In addition to the numbers already mentioned, she played a total of 38 minutes and committed only one turnover.
Lux was 7-of-10 from the field, boosting her season field goal percentage to .657, and also had four rebounds, two blocks and a steal. Junior guard Kristy McLean also had a solid effort, finishing with nine points and three assists.
Bentley shot 47 percent while limiting UMass-Lowell to 35 percent, and also came up with 16 steals, including five by freshman guard Elise Caira.
UMass-Lowell was led by 6-foot-4 junior Revital Carmon, who had 11 points and six rebounds. No one else had more than six points for the River Hawks, who are now just 1-40 all-time in the series.
Bentley will remain at home to host American International Wednesday at 5:30, a match-up of two of the projected top three teams in the conference.
Men's Hockey
Dartmouth 5, Bentley 1
Sophomore Josh Gillam scored the game-winning goal early in the third period to spur Dartmouth to a 5-1 win over Bentley in non-conference Division I hockey action on Saturday afternoon at Thompson Arena. The Big Green improved to 4-3-1 with the win, while the Falcons fell to 5-8-1.
Gillam broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth minute of the final frame when he knocked in the puck from the midst of a scrum of players right in front of the net, with assists on the goal credited to senior J.T. Wyman and junior Brandon Harrington.
Gillam's goal was the first of four Big Green tallies that put the game out of reach in the final period. Junior Connor Shields ripped a shot up high to make it a 3-1 game with just under five minutes to go. Freshman Kyle Reeds added an empty-netter at the 18:51 mark and classmate Adam Estoclet scored his first collegiate goal with the goalie back in 38 seconds later.
Dartmouth struck first in the game, scoring on its first shot of the afternoon when freshman Scott Fleming took a low angle shot from the left side that snuck behind Bentley freshman goalkeeper Joe Calvi to give the Big Green a 1-0 lead.
That score held up for the remainder of the first period and the bulk of the second until junior Jeff Gumaer evened the match with 1:20 on the clock in the middle frame. Junior Tom Dickhudt dished up the left side to Gumaer, who skated up to the left circle before firing the puck high past the reach of Dartmouth junior goalie Dan Goulding.
Goulding made 24 saves to earn the win for Dartmouth and notched an assist on Shields' goal in the third period. Calvi stopped 39 shots for the Falcons, a personal best in his young career, while allowing four goals as the Big Green held a 44-25 advantage in shots.
The game was marked by five-on-five action for the bulk of the contest as each side was whistled for only two minor penalties each and neither team was able to capitalize on their few power play opportunities.
The Falcons are back in action on Friday at 7:05 p.m. when they return home to open a two-game series with defending Atlantic Hockey regular season champions Rochester Institute of Technology at Ryan Skating Arena in Watertown.
