Worcester, Mass. – The no. 4 seed Le Moyne College women's basketball team (21-6, 16-4 NE10) will compete in the first round of the NCAA Championships East Regional on Friday night against the no. 5 seed Bentley University Falcons (21-9, 14-6 NE10), with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. inside Assumption University's Laska Gymnasium.

The Falcons earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships after defeating Southern New Hampshire in the NE10 Women's Basketball Championship, while the Dolphins received an at-large bid after going 21-5 in the regular season and earning an NE10 regular season championship with a 16-4 resume against conference opponents. The Greyhounds of Assumption earned the no. 1 seed and hosting duties for the 2023 East Regional after compiling a 24-5 record at the conclusion of the NE10 Championships.

Le Moyne and Bentley met once during the 2022-23 regular season on January 21, and the Dolphins came away with a 53-38 win on Ted Grant Court.

In 2022-23 the Dolphins set program records for most road victories in a season (10), longest road winning streak (eight games), and tied a program record for longest conference winning streak (11 games). Le Moyne won 16 of their final 17 regular season contests to earn the no. 1 seed in the NE10 Championships, where they lost to Pace in overtime.

Bentley's loss to Le Moyne earlier this season was the second defeat in a four-game skid for the Falcons at the end of January, however Bentley won five of their final six regular season contests before winning four straight games in the conference tournament.

Both teams had multiple players earn NE10 All-Conference recognition.

For Le Moyne, head coach Mary Grimes won the conference's Coach of the Year award, senior guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) was named Defensive Player of the Year, and redshirt-freshman guard Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) earned NE10 Rookie of the Year honors. Redshirt-sophomore forward Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) was named to the NE10 Third Team All-Conference, while Lusher and freshman guard Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) both earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team. Baker was also selected to the All-Conference First Team and the All-Defensive Team.

Bentley junior guard/forward Maggie Whitmore was named to the All-Conference Second Team, senior guard Ella Thompson made the Third Team, sophomore guard Amanda Kabantu earned a spot on the All-Defensive Team, and freshman forward Ciara Norman was selected to the All-Rookie Team.

Baker leads Le Moyne in scoring with 12.8 points per game. She is first on the team, second in the NE10 and 11^th in the country in rebounding with 10.7 boards per game, including a league-best 7.3 defensive rebounds per contest. She is three defensive rebounds away from tying the program's single season record of 200, which was set by Jennifer Shea in 1988-89 and tied by Stacy Shrader in 2001-02. On March 9, Baker was one of five players named to the D2CCA All-East Region First Team.

Baker is tied for 12^th in the nation and leads the NE10 in double-doubles with 15 so far in 2022-23.

Baker, Goode and Lusher are the only three players in the NE10 to average at least 10.0 points, 2.5 assists, and 1.8 steals this season. Baker and Goode are the only two players in the league to average at least 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game, while Goode and Lusher were the only two rookies in the NE10 to average at least 10.0 points per game this season.

Roberts is 14^th in the conference in scoring with 12.4 points per game, third in free-throw percentage (88.0% on 3.7 attempts per game) and sixth in rebounding with 7.8 boards per contest.

Goode leads the NE10 in steals with 2.3 per game while also contributing 3.0 assists (11^th in NE10), and 10.3 points.

Lusher is contributing 11.0 points (22^nd in NE10), 3.6 assists (4^th in NE10), 4.6 rebounds (30^th in NE10) 1.8 steals (7^th in NE10), 0.7 blocks (t-12^th NE10) in 35.5 minutes (4^th in NE10) per game. Lusher is fourth in the conference in assist to turnover ratio (1.8).

Le Moyne freshman guard Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) is second in the NE10 and 55^th in the country with 2.3 made three-point field goals per game while shooting 38.0% from beyond the arc (8^th in NE10 and 50^th in Division II).

Lusher and Bentley guards Thompson and Kari Brekke are each making 1.7 threes per game.

Whitmore leads the Falcons in scoring (12.9 points per game) and rebounding (6.7 boards per contest), while Thompson is adding 10.8 points per game.

Le Moyne and Bentley met in the Semifinals of the 2022 Northeast-10 Conference Championships, and the Falcons came away with a 57-47 win. Prior to that the two sides met in the Quarterfinals of the 2020 NE10 Championships and Le Moyne earned a 54-51 victory. The Dolphins won their most recent NE10 Conference Championship in 2018-19 after beating Bentley in the tournament final.

The last time Le Moyne and Bentley met in the NCAA Championships was during the first round of the 2002 tournament when the Falcons claimed a 65-54 win over the Dolphins.