WALTHAM, Mass. – In what was likely its most impressive win of the season, the Bentley University women's basketball team went wire-to-wire for a 75-55 win over Pace University, the 22^nd-ranked team in this week's WBCA Division II coaches poll, in Northeast-10 Conference women's basketball Wednesday night at the Dana Center. It was the third straight game the Falcons had led from start to finish.

Freshman guard Amanda Kabantu (Portland, Maine/Portland HS) led the Falcons' balanced scoring attack with 14 points on five-of-six shooting. Bentley's point total was the most yielded by the Setters thus far this season.

Bentley, with its seventh win in its last nine games, improved to 10-4 overall and 8-2 Northeast-10, good for second place in the conference's Northeast Division. Pace, second in the Southwest Division, dropped to 14-4 overall and 9-3 conference.

The Falcons were on top 15-5 twenty seconds past the midpoint of the opening quarter after making six of their first seven shots. The quick start included five points from graduate forward Autumn Ceppi (Bedford/Dana Hall School), two baskets from Kabantu and a three-pointer from the left side by sophomore guard Brooke Obar (North Yarmouth, Maine/Greely HS).

It was a 26-17 game at the quarter break with Bentley 8-for-9 overall and 8-of-11 at the foul line against a Pace defense that limited its first 17 opponents to a .354 field goal percentage.

With Pace within seven late in the second quarter, the Falcons closed with a 6-0 burst to take a 41-28 advantage into the halftime break. Kabantu converted a three-point play on a second-chance basket and junior guard Ella Thompson (Greenwood, Ind./Center Grove HS) drained a three-ball from the left side.

The Falcons closed the third by scoring 10 of the final 13 points, a run that made it a 14-point game, 60-46. That included four points from sophomore guard Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) and three-balls from both Obar and sophomore guard Janessa Gonzalez (Meriden, Conn./St. Paul Catholic HS).

Any hopes Pace had of a fourth-quarter comeback were dashed when a Ceppi-fueled 9-0 run made it 71-48 with 5:33 to play. Ceppi had the first five of the nine.

Kabantu, who also had seven rebounds, was followed in the scoring column by Ceppi (13 with seven rebounds), Whitmore (12) and Thompson (11, including 3-for-3 from downtown). Gonzalez pitched in with nine points off the bench.

Senior guard Lauren Hackett (Commack, N.Y.) led Pace with 11 points while grad student Lauren Schetter (Beacon, N.Y.), the conference's leading scorer, was limited to eight, 13 below her norm.

Bentley shot 49 percent overall, sank eight of 12 three-pointers and was 13 of 18 from the line. On the other hand, Pace was held to 39 percent overall and just 6 of 17 from deep. Rebounds (37-29), assists (16-8), paint (38-30) and bench scoring (19-10) all favored the home team.

Next for the Falcons is a Saturday game at Adelphi University.