Feb. 4, 2009

Box Score

Sophomore G Kim Brennan scored a game-high 23 points as Bentley University defeated UMass Lowell, 78-71, Wednesday night in a Northesast-10 Conference women’s basketball clash at the Dana Athletic Center.

The loss was the sixth straight for the River Hawks, who slipped to 7-14 overall and 4-12 in the NE-10 entering Saturday’s clash at Merrimack (1:30). Bentley improved to 14-9 overall and 10-6 in the Conference.

Senior C Revital Carmon (Bat-Yam, Israel) led the River Hawks with 14 points and five rebounds as she converted 7 of 12 field goal attempts. Senior F Antonnea Robinson (West Haven, CT) added 11 points and five rebounds, hitting 5 of 10 field goals.

Senior G Kristy McLean added 12 points for the Falcons on 6-12 field goal shooting and 6 of 6 from the free throw line. Junior F Colette Josey chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds, hitting all four field goal attempts and all six free throws.

The River Hawks shot .509 for the game (29-57), including .652 in the first half (15-23), but were plagued by 21 turnovers, including 15 in the first stanza. Bentley shot .490 for the game (24-49) and .556 in the first half (15-27) and turned the ball over 16 times.

UMass Lowell also had advantages in the paint (38-20) and off second chances (14-9), the result of a 13-7 edge on the offensive glass.

It wasn’t enough, however, to overcome Bentley’s 21-7 advantage at the free throw line and 27-18 lead from 3-point range. Bentley converted 9 of 19 attempts from long range while UMass Lowell hit 6 of 13.

Bentley led 65-55 with 7:27 left to play, but the River Hawks scored seven straight points to cut the deficit to 65-62 with 6:07 remaining.

Sophomore G Tamaria Menefee (Dorchester, MA) converted a 3-pointer to bring UMass Lowell within three (72-69) with 25 seconds left, but the Falcons converted 6 of 6 free throws the rest of the way to seal the win.

In the first half, Bentley jumped out to a 26-16 lead and milked a nine-point lead (34-23) with 5:02 left in the half.

The River Hawks, however, found their touch and ended the half with a 12-4 run, led by a pair of treys by junior G Rahshala Valentine (Cincinnati, OH), to cut the deficit to 39-35 at the interval.