Finn, Bentley pressed on to win NCAA title

Bentley University coach Barbara Stevens has seen her Lady Falcons win 917 games in her tenure in Waltham.It’s a safe bet the 917th was the best.Bentley was almost six minutes away from defeat in the NCAA Division II championship game. The Falcons were down by nine points and this dream season – that had, up to that point, seen them win every game – was about to and unsatisfactorily.That’s when the bell went off … the one that seven seniors with loads of savvy, maturity and experience kicked in and allowed Bentley to win the first national title in Stevens’ long tenure … not to mention the history of the program – a 73-65 win over West Texas A&M Friday night in Erie, Penn.”Am I dreaming, or is this real?” Stevens asked, rhetorically, at the post-game news conference. “(Saying I’m) proud of them doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel. I get emotional when I think of them because we’ve gone through so much together. They are truly champions. They have been champions in our book from Day One.”Central to the Falcons’ championship is someone all girls basketball coaches on the North Shore should recognize easily: Winthrop’s Courtney Finn. The fifth-year senior (she’s going for her master’s degree) led the Falcons in scoring with 21 points, including a perfect 12-for-12 from the free throw line.”I think,” Finn said, “we all looked at each other with six minutes left, down by nine points … we knew we had to give it everything we had.”Stevens doesn’t press often, but when she employs it, the results generally follow. And so it did Friday night, even with a number of Bentley players in foul trouble.”We had no choice,” Stevens said. “(The players) handled it. They handled it very well … the front line of our press was great.”Finn agreed the team had nothing to lose.”We usually bring out our press when we have our backs to the wall,” she said, “and we did at that point. We had nothing to lose.”When our backs are to the wall, it doesn’t matter if you have four fouls or one foul,” she said. “You have to be aggressive and not worry about that … like Jacqui (Brugliera) stepping up and taking some big charges at the end of the game for us.”The comeback began with Bentley trailing 58-49 with 5:37 to go. Two quick hoops by tournament MVP Jacqui Brugliera cut the lead to five with 4:37 remaining.However, with 3:07 left, West Texas A&M still had a 60-54 lead. It was time to press. The Falcons made up the six points in just 13 seconds, with Finn’s layup being part of the splurge, and Christiana Bakolas’ two free throws providing the tying points.There were still 2:47 to go.West Texas regained the lead briefly on a made free throw, but a Lauren Batista three-pointer but the Falcons ahead for good, 63-61, with 2:11 left. Nine seconds later, she hit a layup off a steal and the lead was up to five.Bakolis, Brugliara and Finn made sure the Falcons held on to the advantage and wrapped up the title. Finn drained four free throws down the stretch to help seal the victory.Stevens took it all in.”I wanted to watch the reaction of the players,” she said. “I just turned to my assistant coach, who also played for me at Bentley and graduated in 2001. We both said to each other at the same time ‘can you believe it?’ It was just a wonderful moment. I have it … I am never going to forget it.”