Bentley junior guard Kim Brennan's 45-foot buzzer beater in the second overtime helped the Falcons to a triple-overtime victory over Saint Rose Tuesday night.
When Kim Brennan heaved a halfcourt shot with time dwindling in the second overtime on Tuesday night, it looked like the Bentley University women's basketball team's seven-game winning streak was over.
That was an instant before the All-Conference junior guard sunk a 45-foot, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to force a third overtime against The College of Saint Rose.
``Yeah, that was completely unexpected,'' Brennan said one night after the 87-84 victory at the Dana Center. ``There was 3.4 seconds left on the clock, so there was nothing else to do but get the ball up as quick as possible. I saw an opening. Some people thought I shot a little too early, but I thought that was the best chance I had to get it up.''
The Bentley men's team also extended an unbeaten streak on Tuesday night, beating The College of Saint Rose, 88-67, for its 12th straight victory.
These types of streaks are nothing new in Bentley country. Just two years ago, the women had a nine-game streak while the men won their first 34 games. The previous year, the men won 32 straight games.
Over the last six years, including this season, the men are 160-26, while the women are considered one of the best and most consistent teams in the conference.
``It's always nice seeing the (women's) team wining and us winning,'' said senior guard Jason Westrol. ``It's nice seeing both of us successful at the same time. It just makes everybody happy around the gym to go down there and work hard at practice.
``Being around them so much brought us closer together with each other on a personal level as friends and stuff.''
Westrol, who is leading the team with 19.8 and 4.3 assists per game, has started since the fifth game of his freshman year.
``It's just every step of the way been enjoyable for me starting from my freshman year to senior year,'' he said. ``(The win streaks) just makes it that much more fun to come down to practice every day and work hard with the team.''
The three-overtime victory improved Bentley's women's team to 14-5 overall and 12-2 in the NE-10. They are in a second-place tie with Stonehill and two games back of unbeaten Franklin Pierce.
``That game was huge to get momentum going,'' said Brennan, who collected a season-high 25 on Tuesday night.
At the end of the second overtime, it looked like Saint Rose had the game in the bag. After sinking a pair of free throws, it led 76-73 with 3.4 seconds left before Brennan's midcourt heroics.
``It got us pumped up,'' Brennan said. ``How many chances can you get? It would be heartbreaking to lose after that. A shot like that is once in a lifetime. It gets you more excited. No way could we lose that game after something like that happened.''
But after it happened they still had to compose themselves and get back on the court.
``You do have to settle down and realize the game is not over,'' Brennan said. ``You can't stop playing. You realize you have to go back in and play hard again, run good offenses and play great defense. You can't rely on another halfcourt shot.''
After Bentley scored the first five points of the final overtime Saint Rose took an 84-83 lead with 19.1 seconds with a 3-pointer. The Falcons went up 85-84 after sophomore Katherine Goodwin's driving layup with 16.1 seconds to play.
Brennan sealed the deal by sinking a pair of free throws and a Saint Rose desperation heave wasn't close nearly as close as Brennan's.
``We're kind of plugging along,'' Bentley women's coach Barbara Stevens said. ``Our games, unfortunately, are not as easy as the men's seem to be. They kind of have more cushion than we do, but we're managing to eke out wins that are important to us.''
On Tuesday night, junior forward Brian Tracey scored a season-high 24 points for the men's squad. That victory, coupled with Stonehill's 73-51 loss to Le Moyne, lifted the Falcons (17-2, 12-2 NE-10) into a tie for the top spot in the 16-team conference.
Bentley has won the NE-10 title an unprecedented five straight years and is vying to make it six in a row. Saint Rose fell to 10-9 overall and 7-7 in the conference.
Westrol, who had 17 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals against Saint Rose, said opponents gun for them every game and they feed off the pressure.
``I guess we handle situations like that pretty well,'' he said. ``Pretty much every team comes ready to play against us. We know that we can't take anything lightly. We have to come out with the same intensity every night and hope for the best.''
The men's and women's teams will continue to feed off one another as both Bentley teams play Pace University Saturday afternoon in Pleasantville, N.Y.
``We're both really strong teams,'' Brennan said. ``We definitely support each other. When the guys get a win, we definitely want to also be winning. We do feed off each other's energy that we have.''
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