PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. -- Senior All-Conference forward Jacqui Brugliera powered her way to 22 points, including 14 free throws in a school record 20 attempts, as undefeated Bentley reached the 20-win milestone for the 29th time in 31 years with a 60-45 win against Pace in Northeast-10 Conference at the Goldstein Fitness Center Saturday afternoon.
Bentley, the season-long number one in the USA TODAY Sports/WBCA Division II coaches poll, improved to 20-0 overall and 15-0 in the Northeast-10 with its first win at Pace since 2007. The Falcons continue to lead the NE-10's Northeast Division by four games over Stonehill.
On top by one at the break, Bentley rode the inside game of Brugliera to string together a 17-1 run in the first 9:50 of the second half. She had 12 of the points and single-handedly drew seven fouls during that stretch, helping the Falcons open a 45-28 lead. Twelve of her free throws came in the first 9:09 of the second and she also stepped in to take a charge at the defensive end.
After Pace hit its first field goal of the second nearly ten minutes in, Bentley netted the next eight points, a run started by a traditional three-point play by Brugliera, to open a commanding 53-30 lead with seven-and-a-half minutes to play. The Setters were just 1-of-12 with nine turnovers during the first 12:30 of the second.
Senior All-America forward Lauren Battista was the only other Falcon in double figures as the program's all-time leading scorer added 14 to her total, along with four rebounds, four assists and four steals. Finn (6 points) had a team-high nine rebounds and also led the Falcons in assists with five.
No. 2 Colorado Mesa 74, Colorado Christian 61
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. -- Senior forward Hannah Pollart picked a good night to have her best game of the season. Pollart tallied a season-high 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Mavericks to a 74-61 win against Colorado Christianon Saturday night in Brownson Arena.
The win gives the Mavericks a school record 19 consecutive wins, eclipsing last year's team which won their first 18 games. The win also gives Colorado Mesa 32 wins in a row at home in Brownson Arena.
Pollart had 12 points and two rebounds at halftime but was able to secure nine rebounds in the second half including six on the offensive end.
Sharaya Selsor led all scorers with 23 points. Selsor also added nine rebounds and seven assists in the game.
No. 3 Emporia State 84, Nebraska-Kearney 75
KEARNEY, Neb. -- Laura Patrick had 28 points to lead the Lady Hornets to an 84-75 victory at Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday afternoon.
No. 4 Gannon 64, Seton Hill 53
ERIE, Pa. -- Junior Nettie Blake became the 25th Lady Knight in program history to record 1,000 career points, as Gannon defeated Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Division opponent Seton Hill 64-53 at the Hammermill Center in their seventh annual Pink Zone game. The Lady Knights captured their 25th consecutive home game, the second best active win streak in NCAA Division II. In the victory, the Lady Knights improved to 20-1 overall and 9-1 in divisional play, while the Griffins fell to 12-8 and 4-6 in the division.
Blake's 1,000th career point came on a tic-tac-toe play starting with senior Kelley Sundberg finding senior Jen Papich at the top of the key, only for the senior to feed Blake down low for a layup with 5:38 remaining in the game. Blake joins Papich, who has recorded 1367 career points, on the list of 1,000 point scorers in program history. For the 17th time this season, Blake recorded double digits.
Blake finished the afternoon with 10 points, adding a game-high eight rebounds in only 17 minutes of action. Leading the Lady Knights for the second time this season was sophomore Morgan Neighbors with a career game-high 17 points along with two assists and three rebounds. Neighors shot 4-for-6 from behind the arc to account for nearly half of the Lady Knights' treys. After being held scoreless in the first half, junior Brittany Batts heated up in the second, burying three long-range shots for nine points on the day.
No. 5 Nova Southeastern 69, Florida Southern 58
LAKELAND, Fla. -- Nova Southeastern used balanced scoring, with four in double digits, to top Florida Southern on the road on Saturday evening 69-58.
Richelle Carach finished with her third double-double of the season, at 15 points (on 6-of-7 shooting) and 10 rebounds. Amanda Burakoski was next with 14, while Jasmine Wilkins added 12 and Danielle Robinson 10. Jessica Russi chipped in with seven assists and six rebounds.
No. 6 West Texas A&M Eastern New Mexico
CANYON, Texas -- West Texas A&M ran its winning streak to a season best 10 games with an 82-54 victory against visiting Eastern New Mexico on Saturday afternoon in the First United Bank Center. With the win, the Lady Buffs matched their best start since the 2009-2010 improving to 17-1 overall and a perfect 8-0 mark in the Lone Star Conference. Eastern New Mexico fell to 6-11 and 4-4 in league play.
The Lady Buffs were led by 20 points and 10 rebounds from senior Chontiquah White as WT had five players in double figures. Senior Devin Griffin added 14 points, while senior Casey Land had 11 and senior Lacee Logan and sophomore Taryn Borchardt each had 10. It was White's second double-double of the season.
WT shot 54.5 percent from the field on 30 of 55. The Lady Buffs were 9 of 20 from beyond the arc and 13 of 21 from the line. WT tallied 40 rebounds in the game and had 23 assists and 17 turnovers.
ENMU was led by 15 points from Jasmine Johnson as she was 7 of 11 from the field with a free throw. Jordyn Cooper added 12 points as the Zias went 21 of 60 from the field for 35 percent and 5 of 20 from beyond the arc. The Zias were 7 of 8 from the line.
WT held an 11 rebound lead and dominated on the defensive end forcing 19 turnovers and holding a 26-5 lead in defensive rebounds. WT held a 40-20 lead in points in the paint, 18-15 in points off turnovers and 22-14 in second chance points.
No. 7 Drury 93, Truman State 86
KIRKSVILLE, Mo. -- Amber Dvorak scored 27 points and Bethanie Funderburk added 22 points to lead Drury to a 93-86 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory against Truman State on Saturday afternoon, snapping the Bulldogs' 23-game home court winning streak at Pershing Arena.
The Lady Panthers improved to 17-2 overall and broke out of a tie with Truman State for second place in the West with a 9-2 mark in the GLVC.
Truman State, which lost at home for the first time since Feb. 1, 2012, fell to 14-5 and 8-3 and had its school-record, eight-game winning streak snapped by a Drury team that bounced back quite well from Thursday's 82-79 loss at West leader Quincy.
This time, when the Lady Panthers held a late lead and faced a strong Truman State surge, they fought it off.
Truman State had cut what was once an 18-point DU lead down to four (84-80) with just two minutes remaining. But the Lady Panthers countered with a Kylie Williamson basket and two free throws from Dvorak to push it back to 88-80, and weren't threated again from there.
Huber was also quick to praise the work off the bench not just of Dvorak, but of freshmen Hannah Dressler and Paige Wilson, who scored seven and 10 points, respectively, in 20 minutes each.
No. 9 Wayne State (Neb.) 81, Minnesota-Duluth 69
DULUTH, Minn. -- Wayne State (Neb.) shot a season-high 62.5 percent from the field, including a season-best 12 for 18 from 3-point range, to help offset 21 turnovers as the Wildcats defeated Minnesota-Duluth 81-69 Saturday evening in Northern Sun Conference women's basketball played at Romano Gymnasium. The Wildcats move to 21-2 overall and remain in first place in the NSIC with a 14-2 league mark while the host Bulldogs drop to 10-10 on the season and 7-9 in the NSIC.
With the exception of one possession early in the first half, Wayne State led the entire game. The 'Cats took an early 9-3 advantage, but Minnesota Duluth responded with an 8-2 run to force the game's lone tie at 11-11 with 12:55 to go before halftime.
Wayne State used three consecutive 3-pointers from Addy Roller, Kara Powell and Michaela Barry and a Shantel Lehmann layup to build a 22-14 lead at the 9:19 mark. UMD cut the WSC lead to one at 28-27 with 5:09 left in the first half, but the Wildcats closed the half with a 16-4 run, highlighted by 3-pointers from Powell, Roller and Ashton Yossi, to take a 44-31 lead at halftime.
The Bulldogs had one more rally at the Wildcats and pulled within one at 61-60 on another Flood basket with 7:48 to go. Wayne State got 3-pointers from Millie Niggeling and Yossi and a free throw by Jordan Spencer to extend the lead back to eight at 68-60. After UMD's Danielle Flood made two free throws to make the score 68-62, Wayne State put the game out of reach by scoring the next nine points to give WSC a 77-62 lead with 2:39 left before finishing with the 81-69 win.
Junior forward Jordan Spencer led a balanced scoring effort for Wayne State with 16 points. Sophomore guard Addy Roller never missed a shot in scoring 12 points to go with a career-high 11 assists for a double-double. She was 2-for-2 from the field, both 3-point shots, and a perfect 6 of 6 at the foul line. Ashton Yossi and Kara Powell each added 11 points with Powell's production a season-high off the bench.
No. 10 Glenville State 119, Shepherd 76
GLENVILLE, W.Va. -- Glenville State defeated Shepherd on Saturday afternoon by 43 points as they cruised to ITS 18th win of the season 119-76.
The Lady Pioneers would cruise to a 31 point lead at halftime 73-42.
