Junior Bethany Tighe had 22 points and 10 rebounds in the Skyhawks' 81-69 win over Southern Connecticut earlier this year.

Easton, Mass. - With their first regular season title since the 1994-95 season wrapped up, the No. 11 Skyhawks begin the quest for their first Northeast-10 Championship crown since the 1996-97 season on Tuesday night when they entertain last year's regular season, Conference tournament and NCAA Champion, Southern Connecticut.

Stonehill will have had a week off since its last contest, a 63-57 win over St. Anselm in the regular season finale. The Owls, meanwhile, struggled offensively but controlled the boards in knocking off Pace on Sunday afternoon, 64-46 in their first round meeting.

SCSU, the Northeast-10's most potent offense at 73 points a night, features the nation's fourth leading scorer in senior forward Kate Lynch (22.3). She has two 30+ point games this season including a 38-point explosion in a loss at St. Rose, a game in which the Owls allowed 99 points.

In the two teams meeting earlier this season, the Skyhawks held SCSU to 39 percent shooting and got a double-double from Bethany Tighe (North Easton, Mass./Oliver Ames) (22 points, 10 rebounds) and an excellent all around performance from Erika Stupinski (Topsham, Maine/Mount Ararat) (seven points, four rebounds, nine assists, five steals) to take an 81-69 decision.

Stonehill snapped a two-game losing streak with the win and hasn't lost since, a stretch of 10 games that spans parts or all of three months.

During the winning streak, the Skyhawks are averaging 69.5 points and holding opponents to just 37 percent shooting from the field.

At the confines of Merkert Gymnasium, where Stonehill will continue to play as long as they keep winning in the Conference tournament, the Skyhawks are 10-1 and shoot nearly 35 percent from behind the arc and 80 percent from the charity stripe.

Junior Kelsey Simonds (Middleboro, Mass./Cardinal Spellman), who has nine double-doubles this season, has yet to record a double dip at home, but has four home contests where she fell just one rebound shy. Her scoring average jumps slightly at home (16.6-16.7), but her impact has been more significant on the defensive end. She has half of her 60 blocks in her 11 home games, including two contests where she had five rejections. She only needs three blocks to set the school record for most denials in a single season.

Senior Daryl Cioffi (New Milford, N.J./Immaculate Heart) has two double digit scoring efforts this season - both coming at home. She had a career-high 14 points in a 57-38 win over Bentley and then dropped in 12 in an 87-75 win over Bryant.

Defensively, the Skyhawks, who rank second in the Northeast-10 in points allowed, have held five teams below 50 points at home and nine to 60 or below.

The winner moves on to the semifinal round of the Northeast-10 Conference Championships to face the winner of the American International-Bentley matchup on Friday at 7 p.m.