Women's Basketball Hosts No.-1 Ranked Bentley Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (Dec. 17, 2011) - The C.W. Post women's basketball team, fresh off a 59-50 win over Saint Rose on Friday night, will take on No.1-ranked Bentley University Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. at the Pratt Recreation Center.
The C.W. Post-Bentley series is relatively new as the programs played against each other for the first time last December. There, then 24th-ranked Bentley shot nearly 50 percent from the field and clobbered the Pioneers, 93-60. Bentley head coach Barbara Stevens collected her 800th career victory with the win.
The teams met again in the first round of the NCAA East Regional last March and this time the Pioneers made a game of it and gave the top-seeded Falcons a run for their money. Bentley, who started out the game on an 8-0 run, survived the bout, 65-57. Felicia Joyner (Lindenhurst, N.Y.) led the Pioneers with 22 points, including a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe. Nicolette Marciniak (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added 10 points and 12 rebounds.
C.W. Post is second in the ECC in scoring with 73.4 points per game, just a tad more than Bentley, who is averaging 73.2. The Pioneers lead the ECC with 46.1 boards a game. C.W. Post is in the midst of a six-game home stretch.
C.W. Post snapped a three-game losing skid when it defeated Saint Rose, 59-50, in a non-conference contest Friday evening at home. Even more impressive was that the Pioneers snapped a near 20-year losing streak to the Golden Knights dating back to January 1992. The Golden Knights previously were 22-1 overall against C.W. Post.
Freshman Chelsea Williams (Copiague, N.Y.) scored both a game-high as well as a season-high 17 points to lead the charge. Joyner chipped in 16 and Marciniak added 15.
The Pioneers shot .322 (19 of 59) from field goal range and outrebounded the Golden Knights, 50-34 - one less than their season-high of 51 at Adelphi.
Bentley remains an unbeaten team this season with a perfect 9-0 record overall and 7-0 record in the Northeast-10. The Falcons are playing their third straight road game and will play two more after today (Dowling, Dec. 29; Bridgeport, Dec. 30) before hosting Assumption at home on Jan. 3.
Sophomore Lauren Battista leads the team in scoring with 17.6 points while also averaging 7.3 rebounds. She leads the conference in field goal percentage, shooting 62 percent on the floor. Sophomore Jacqui Brugliera and junior Courtney Finn are averaging 10.9 and 10.4 points, respectively.