Bentley Women's Basketball Honored With NE10 Hall Of Fame Nod

News release from Bentley University Athletic Department.

WALTHAM, MA — The five-year span of success that the Bentley University Falcons enjoyed from 1988-89 through the 1992-93 season is unprecedented in conference women’s basketball history and now has been recognized with selection into the Northeast-10 Conference Hall of Fame in the special achievement category.

The conference announced this year's induction class on Monday with Bentley also represented by former track and cross country standout Amy (Varsell) Bradrick ’13.

That time frame saw coach Barbara Stevens’ Falcons put together a sensational 156-16 record with five consecutive 30-win seasons, 87 wins in 90 Northeast-10 games, five straight appearances in the NCAA Division II national semifinals, a berth in the 1990 national championship, five consecutive conference regular season championships and three Northeast-10 tournament championships.

“That five-year streak of Final Four appearances was incredible,” said Stevens, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020. “Each team was made up of women who were high achievers and fierce competitors. They were driven to succeed, but more importantly, played so hard for each other. The teams from 1988-89 to 1992-93 took what had already been a successful program to the next level.”

“This is such well-deserved recognition for truly incredible past individuals but more importantly, teams,” said current Bentley women’s basketball coach C White. “These Falcons will forever be embedded in my young brain as I grew up reading about them and admiring them from the stands. We are so thrilled to celebrate such a deserving group in this year’s Northeast 10 Hall of Fame.”

There have been 16 30-win seasons in Northeast-10 history, but never has a program done it five consecutive times as that group of Falcons did. The run started with a 31-3 record during the 1988-89 season and continued with marks of 31-14, 33-3, 31-2 and 30-4 over the next four years.

It’s even rarer for a women’s basketball team to complete the regular season conference schedule unbeaten in the Northeast-10. Of the seven times it has occurred, there were three seasons in that five-year span that Bentley achieved a perfect 18-0 record: 1988-89, 1990-91 and 1991-92. The 1990-91 team became the first in conference history to earn both the regular season and tournament titles without a loss.

Each of those teams captured the regional championship with the Falcons defeating New Haven 76-71 in 1989, Saint Anselm 65-44 in 1990 and 86-73 in 1991, Stonehill 68-60 in 1992 and UMass-Lowell by the same score in 1993.

In those days, there was no formal Elite Eight. The regional champions would be paired with another, with the winner advancing to the national semifinals. All five of the quarterfinal games were at home with Bentley advancing with wins over Bloomsburg in 1989, Bellarmine in 1990, Jacksonville State in 1991, Pittsburgh-Johnstown in 1992 and Norfolk State in 1993.

In the program’s first-ever final four, in Cleveland, Mississippi in 1989, Bentley dropped a heartbreaker in the national semifinals, 84-83 in double-overtime to Cal Poly Pomona. A year later, in Pomona, California, the Falcons punched their ticket for the championship game with a 72-68 win over Oakland University but lost to defending champion Delta State in the finals. They came up short in the semis the next two years, falling to eventual national champion both times (83-76 to North Dakota State in 1991 and 68-66 to Delta State a year later).

In 1993, Bentley was selected as the host of the final four and welcomed North Dakota State, Michigan Tech and Delta State to the Dana Center. The Falcons fell to the powerful North Dakota State Bison in the semis, with NDSU going on to cut down the nets for the second time in three years.

There was also a third-place game in those days and Bentley prevailed in that game in 1989 and 1991.

Players who played four seasons during that remarkable stretch included Missy Wolfe (Spring Grove, Pa., 1988-92), Tracey Seymour (Chicopee, 1988-92), Cathy Sterner (Chicopee, 1988-90, 91-93), Eileen Prendergast (Newington, Conn., 1988-82), Kim Penwell (Meriden, Conn, 1989-93) and Patrice Misiano (Revere, 1989-93).

Three-year players included Cheryl Boettger (Edison, N.J., 1988-91), Sherrie Muller (Parkville, Md., 1988-91), Monica Odoy (Monroe, Conn., 1988-91), Janet Kerrigan (Randolph, N.J., 1990-93), Sharon Conway (Great Barrington, 1990-93), Beth Pilgrim (Lebanon, Pa., 1990-93) and Carlini Guest (North Haven, Conn., 1990-93).

Seymour, Penwell and Kim Cummings (Brockton), a freshman on the 1992-93 team, were previously enshrined in the NE10 Hall of Fame as individuals, as was Stevens, a 2021 inductee.

An amazing run and a well-deserved honor for this group of women.

They will be recognized on campus at some point during the upcoming season.