Digital BW, The Print

For the past few months I have been working with a Sprintscan 120 to scan my
6x7 b&w negatives.  So far, I have been using the raw scan option with no
setting of black or white points at the initial scan.  All tweaking of the
images is then done in PS.  In recent studio work with black seamless
backgrounds--images with much contrast (nudes against black seamless), I am
getting scans that require severe curve adjustments.  I do this in 16 bit
mode to avoid posterization.  After the initial work in 16 bit mode where I
get as close as I can, I then move to 8 bit and use adjustment layers.  In
most cases with the studio work on the nudes, I have to apply several layers
with softlight and 100% opacity layers to build up enough density in the
image (another approach I use is to have a curve adjustment layer and set it
to "multiply" instead of "normal" to build density).

Am I doing something wrong?  The negatives are constrasty, but they look
about right visually. Should I not use the raw scan? Should I set the tones
within the scanner (I am using the Polacolor scan software for the
scanning)?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

David Myers