WALTHAM, Mass. - The Saint Michael's College women's basketball team lost to No. 21 Bentley University, 72-61, on Saturday during Northeast 10 Conference play in the Dana Center. The Falcons were ranked in this week's Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) national poll.
 
RECORDS

• Saint Michael's (3-3, 0-2 NE10), Bentley (5-1, 2-0 NE10)

SAINT MICHAEL'S LEADERS

• Junior Jayla Tyler (Albany, N.Y./Colonie Central/Saint Rose), 16 points, 5-for-11 field goals, 2-for-5 three-pointers
• Junior Bella Franchi (Colonie, N.Y./Colonie Central), 14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 6-for-6 free throws
• Junior Ashlee Talbot (Dracut, Mass./Dracut), 12 points, 6 assists, 2 steals, 5-for-11 field goals
• Senior Molly Brophy (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich Central School), 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2-for-3 three-pointers
• Senior Ava MacDonough (South Burlington, Vt./Rice Memorial), 6 points, 3 rebounds, 2-for-2 three-pointers
• Sophomore Kelli Cieplicki (Colchester, Vt./Rice Memorial), 2 assists, 2 blocks

OPPONENT LEADERS

• Junior Niya Morgen, 25 points, 6 rebounds, 8-for-13 field goals
• Senior Julia Elie, 12 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, 4-for-5 field goals
• Junior Kayana Armbrister, 11 points, 5-for-5 field goals

GAME FACTS

• The Purple Knights assisted 14 of their 19 field goals while forcing 18 Bentley turnovers, three short of its season high. Saint Michael's shot 37.5% from three-point range while the hosts connected at a 33.3% clip.
• Two of the Purple and Gold's losses this season have come against nationally-ranked squads.

THE ACTION

• On the strength of seven Armbrister points, Bentley led 13-0 by 4:33 of the first quarter before the Purple Knights surged back with a 13-2 run that took only 1:42 to elapse. Perfect 5-of-5 shooting in that time had the visitors within 15-13 by 1:42.
• Bentley netted five of the final six points in the stanza and led by as much as 32-25 in the second period (1:16), but Talbot scored the final four points in the closing 16 seconds to bring Saint Michael's within 32-29 by halftime.
• The Falcons pushed their lead to 41-32 on junior Norah Saluja's lay-in at 7:31 of the third period before the visitors cut their deficit to four points on five occasions, including trailing 54-50 on Tyler's lay-up at 7:35 of the fourth frame.
• Morgen responded with a three-point play 17 seconds later, and the visitors never trailed by fewer than five points down the stretch. Tyler's pair of freebies made it 62-56 at 2:14, but the Falcons pulled away with a 7-2 spurt to extend the lead double digits.

NEXT SAINT MICHAEL'S GAME

• Next Sunday vs. Vermont State University Johnson, 2 p.m.