Lynn’s Tori Faieta is ready for the Big Dance.
Faieta and her Stonehill College teammates will open play in the East Regional of the NCAA Division 2 Women’s Basketball Tournament Friday (2:30 p.m.) against Franklin Pierce at the Dana Center on the campus of Bentley University in Waltham.
Stonehill is the No. 2 seed in the regional behind No. 1 seed and regional host Bentley. Stonehill (23-4) handed Bentley (26-1) in its only loss of the season on Feb. 24. The two teams could meet Monday in the East Regional final.
Faieta was selected this season to the All Northeast-10 Conference Second Team. The 6-foot-2-inch sophomore center averaged 12.3 points and 8 rebounds per game. Faieta has 548 career points, putting her on pace to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
Faieta was a captain and a 1,000-point scorer for the St. Mary’s High School girls basketball team, helping to lead the Lady Spartans to the Division 3 state championship in 2011. Interestingly, the NCAA Division 2 Elite Eight is being played at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas.
One team with a familiar name playing in the Division 2 Tournament is Lynn University, which is located in Boca Raton, Fla. Lynn’s nickname is the Fighting Knights.