Keystone State rivals Robert Morris and Saint Francis U are the last two teams left standing at the 2014 Northeast Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament. Both teams eked out five-point victories in Wednesday’s semifinal round and will clash in the #NECWBB Championship Game on Sunday, March 16 in Moon. The title tilt will tip off at 3:00 pm and will reach a live national TV audience via ESPNU for the seventh consecutive year. Top-seeded Robert Morris shot 50 percent from the field and protected its home court against No. 4 Bryant. Meanwhile, Saint Francis went into Mount St. Mary’s and denied the Mountaineers what would have been their first Championship Game appearance since 2001.
Semifinal #1
No. 1 Robert Morris 72, No. 4 Bryant 67
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With Artemis Spanou enjoying an Artemis Spanou-like performance, top-seeded Robert Morris eked past No. 4 seed Bryant to advance to the #NECWBB Championship Game for the first time since 2008.
Spanou, the two-time NEC Player of the Year, recorded the 85th double-double of her career with 24 points and 12 rebounds. The 6-foot-2 forward, who shot 67 percent from the floor, came up two assists shy of what would have been the second triple-double in NEC Tournament history.
Tiersa Winder led Bryant’s balanced attack by netting 18 points off the bench. Guard Courtney Schissler scored 15 points on 5-of-11 shooting from downtown.
Senior forward Naana Ankoma-Mensa was the third Bulldog in double figures. The all-NEC selection finished with 13 points, on 6-for-6 shooting, and nine boards.
Spanou and Ankoma-Mensa are two of the top-8 rebounders in NEC history.
Bryant fell behind early, but closed the first half on an 11-0 run to pull even at 34-34. No more than 8 points separated the two teams throughout the entire second half.
Postgame Quote Sheet
RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia's Opening Statement:
“These kids are so resilient. I knew that we would have to hit some shots at the end and we managed to knock down a couple of tough shots in the final couple minutes. I really love this team, I really do. I’ve been coaching 37 years, and these 12 kids are tremendous. I can’t think of a team that I’ve enjoyed coaching as much as this group of young ladies.”
Buscaglia on his team’s resilience …
“As a staff and as a team, we communicate really well. I’ve got a great staff here, Coach Charlie, and, really, the whole staff all have input about what’s going on. And as a team and as a staff, everybody has bought into what it is that we’re doing. “
Artemis Spanou on whether she was nervous down the stretch …
“It’s part of the game, so of course you’re going to be nervous. But you want it to be the good kind of nervous, to be excited. I knew my team had confidence in me and they had my back, but I also trusted them and knew that they would make the right play or hit the big shot.”
RMU center Cassie Oursler on the playoff experience …
“It’s been crazy. The intensity is a lot higher, but I think we’ve turned up our intensity to match it. We’ve got three great seniors that have been leading us and they’ve done a great job of getting us ready for this type of atmosphere.”
Bryant head coach Mary Burke's Opening Statement:
“This game was really a reflection of our season. We got down in the first half, battled back in the second half and had a shot. That’s a testament to the pride and courage of our team and our players. I’m really proud of my players. They really battled all game long. This was a tough situation with the travel, having to come in here and take on the top-seed in the tournament.”
Burke on what makes RMU so tough to play …
“They have five solid players, they can play outside and inside. They’ve got a few players that can knock down the three and they have a girl in the five spot that plays really well off of (Artemis) Spanou. And Spanou is just such a good player. She knows how to the play and takes advantage of the double teams, she can find open shooters, and they do a good job of playing off her in turn.”
Semifinal #2
No. 3 Saint Francis U 68, No. 2 Mount St. Mary's 63
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Saint Francis U is headed back to a familiar place.
The No. 3 seed Red Flash staved off a late comeback attempt by No. 2 Mount St. Mary’s to advance the #NECWBB Championship Game for the 16th time in the last 21 years.
SFU led by as many as 16 points in the second half, but Mount pulled within one on a layup by Jackie Brewer with 00:20 remaining in regulation.
After Alexa Hayward sank two free throws to increase the SFU bulge back up to three, all-NEC guard Sydney Henderson saw her game-tying three-point attempt bounce off the back rim.
Henderson finished with 13 points for the Mount, while Brewer led the way with 16.
Hayward led all scorers with 20 points one game after she poured in a career-high 43 against Sacred Heart.
Postgame Quote Sheet
Saint Francis Head Coach Joe Haigh on opening run of second half....
“Well that was really the key to the game. Somehow we got some of our best looks of the game there. For these guys (Hayward and Williams) to come down and hit back-to-back threes bumped it up a little bit and relaxed us in the second half. That was huge.”
SFU guard Alexa Hayward on hitting two key free throws down the stretch after missing two earlier...
“Well before those last two my teammates came over and told me you got this, we know you got this, and that really made the difference knowing my teammates had confidence in me."
Alli Williams on getting back to the championship game...
“I think everything happens for a reason, so I am going to take last year as a lesson. Don’t get comfortable when you get to the championship game. It’s not going to be easy at all and we are going to have to bring our ‘A’ game.
Mount St. Mary’s Head Coach Bryan Whitten's Opening Statement...
“I am just proud of our team, we gave it a great fight. Down 16 with twelve and a half minutes to go, and we cut it to one. We just weren’t able to pull it out. It’s a difficult way to end our NEC season. I love our team and our seniors. The five of them have reinvigorated the Mount program and left a high standard for our freshmen, sophomores and juniors to live up to.”