ALBANY – The College of Saint Rose will put its season-long seven-game win streak on the line when it heads to Bentley University for a Northeast-10 Conference Tournament semifinal encounter tonight at the Dana Center in Waltham, MA. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 pm. The game may also be seen via the internet at www.northeast10.tv with Chad Cooper and Stephen Zerdelian calling all the live action.

The Golden Knights (21-6) took the lone meeting between the two clubs this year via a 70-60 triumph in Albany back on January 26. Saint Rose led wire-to-wire and shot a then season-high 52.7 percent (29-for-55) from the floor to upend the Falcons (23-4), who were held to their fourth-lowest scoring total of the season.

Fourth-seed Saint Rose is coming off of Tuesday's dramatic 67-60 overtime victory against visiting Pace University. Senior forward Amy Voelkel buried a deep 3-pointer from the top of the key with two seconds left to force the extra session. The Golden Knights then outscored the Setters 9-2 throughout the additional five minutes after forcing five turnovers and allowing just one field goal.

Saint Rose has five players averaging at least 7.8 points per-game. Junior first-team All-Conference guard Ashley Rath leads the way with 16.4 points on the strength of 2.48, three-pointers per-game.

Rath is followed by junior guard Ola Shajuyigbe and senior guard Lynsey Timbrouck, who are averaging 12.5 and 9.4 points respectively. Shajuyigbe is fourth in the league and 23rd in the country (Division II) in free throw percentage (84.8). Timbrouck paces the NE-10 and is second in the nation in assists (7.11) having dished out a single-season school record 192 helpers. She is furthermore leading the conference in minutes (39.07) and A:TO ratio (2.16); and is third in steals (2.37).

Bentley, which is ranked #17 in this week's USA Today ESPN Division II Poll, captured the NE-10 regular-season title for the first time since 2003 to earn the top-seed in the tournament. The Falcons disposed of ninth-seed Southern New Hampshire 83-61 on Tuesday to set up tonight's semifinal match-up. Bentley enters the contest as the top-scoring team in the league (73.3 ppg).

Freshmen forwards Jacqui Brugliera and Lauren Battista have carried a heavy workload throughout their rookie campaigns. The former was named the league's Rookie of the Year last Friday and paces the club in scoring (14.6 ppg) and rebounding (8.9 rpg). Battista, who was a third-team All-Conference pick, is right behind her with 13.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per-outing. Senior guard Kim Brennan, also a second-team All-League performer, is tossing in 10.9 points and dishing out 4.0 assists on a regular basis.

The other semifinal contest pits third-seed Assumption College (21-6) against second-seed Franklin Pierce University (23-6). The winners will meet at 1:00 pm Sunday in the NE-10 Championship game, which also has an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament up for grabs.

Saint Rose Games Notes (pdf)