WALTHAM, Mass. – The No. 12 Bentley women's basketball team sealed the program's third consecutive Northeast 10 Regular Season Championship when the Falcons beat Southern New Hampshire, 77-59, Wednesday evening. It is the program's 28^th regular season conference title.
Bentley earns a bye in the first round of the NE10 Championship. Its postseason run begins at home, March 4.

Niya Morgen scored 24 points in the regular-season finale against Southern New Hampshire (13-12, 8-10 NE10), and she came up one rebound shy of notching a double-double. Brennan Doran scored 16 points for Bentley (21-3, 17-1 NE10), and Kayana Armbrister finished with 12 points.

It was a forgettable first half for the Falcons. They trailed SNHU, 30-27, at halftime. Bentley's offense wasn't the big problem in the opening half – the team shot 50.0-percent from the floor. The Falcons' defense, however, allowed the Penmen to shoot 57.1-percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, including 62.5-percent (5-for-8) from 3-point range.

The Falcons made the appropriate adjustments at halftime.

Bentley's defense sparked its offense to close out the third quarter. After grabbing a defensive rebound, Morgen pushed the ball up the floor to make a layup while getting fouled. The three-point play tied the game, 53-53.

Moments later, Ava Orlando came up with a steal. Like Morgen, Orlando quickly pushed the ball up the floor. She pulled up on the fastbreak to hit a 10-foot jumper just before the end of the third quarter.

The Falcons took that momentum into the fourth quarter. The final period opened with Morgen and Cherish Bryant coming up with consecutive steals and fastbreak layups. Following another defensive stop, Orlando hit a 3-pointer to push Bentley's lead to 62-53.

The Falcons reached a double-digit lead, 64-53, when Bryant made a jump shot in front of the home bench.

SNHU shot just 25.9-percent from the floor in the second half, and it made only two baskets from the floor in the fourth quarter.