Whitmore & Norman Shine as Bentley Completes Season Sweep of Southern N.H., 60-48
WALTHAM, Mass. – junior forward Maggie Whitmore (South Portland, Maine/South Portland HS) scored 11 of their game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter and freshman Ciara Norman (Röbling, NJ/Life Center Academy) had a career game off the bench, 19 points and 14 rebounds in 25-21 as Bentley University beat Barbara Stevens Wednesday night en route to a 60-48 win over Southern New Hampshire University in Northeast-10 Conference women’s basketball each Fourth won court.
Bentley, 13-8 overall and 10-5 NE10, halted a four-game slide and ended a season-streak struggle for the now third-ranked penmen. Coupled with Assumption’s loss to American International, the Falcons moved to within a game and a half of first place.
An opening quarter that included five lead changes ended with Bentley leading 15-14 after the second guard Amanda Kabantu (Portland, Maine/Portland HS) Beat the buzzer with a driving lay-up.
It was 24-18 at halftime after a second quarter that saw Norman Southern single-handedly outsell New Hampshire 6-4. Two of her buckets in the stanza came on second-chance opportunities. She had ten points on five-of-seven shots and six rebounds in the half.
After the visitors came out of the break with eight points in a row, Bentley extended an 18-6 push to the final 8-10 to take a ten-point lead at 42-32. The run included six by Norman, five by Junior Guard Janessa Gonzalez (Meriden, Connecticut/St. Paul Catholic HS) and four by Whitmore.
The momentum continued into the fourth, where Whitmore scored five of the first six points to extend the lead to 16, 48-32. Southern New Hampshire came back to nine with 93 seconds left, but Bentley finished it off by scoring six of the next eight points, including four from Whitmore.
Whitmore hit her 21 on 8-of-11 shots from the field and five free throws in as many attempts, extending her streak to 30. She also had seven rebounds, four steals and two assists.
Norman was a force inside as she made nine of 13 shots, amassed five offensive rebounds, nine tackles on the defensive end and made two of Bentley’s 14 steals.
Kabantu added eight points, Gonzalez added six and freshman guard Cassidy Yeomans (Marion/Tabor Academy) was a team-best plus-21 with five steals.
Junior forward Jess Knight (Hanover) was the only SNHU player to score in doubles as she finished with 16 points and four rebounds.
Bentley passed the penmen by 42-36 percent and had a 38-26 rebound advantage. Turnovers were a problem for both teams as there were 30 steals in total.
The Falcons are off over the weekend and will return to action Tuesday night at Adelphi University.
