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Somerset, NJ - The road to the 2019 Northeast Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament title goes through Moon Township.
After being tabbed as the preseason favorite when the coaches’ poll results were released back in October, Robert Morris proceeded to meet that expectation on the court. The Colonials won 16 of 18 conference games to finish atop the regular season standings and earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming NEC Tournament.
It’ll mark the fourth time in the postseason event’s 33-year history that Robert Morris holds the No. 1 seed. The Colonials have won two conference crowns and own a 7-1 record when playing as the top seed in the NEC Tournament.
Top-seeded teams have gone on to win the NEC Tournament crown 19 times in 32 years.
RMU, which will enjoy home-court advantage throughout the eight-team postseason tournament as a result of its top-seed status, will face No. 8 seed Fairleigh Dickinson when quarterfinal round competition tips off on Monday, March 11.
“Being able to now host is something that we earned, so it's great to have those moments to look at how you earned it, and the hard work and effort we've been putting in,” said Charlie Buscaglia, who enters his third postseason as RMU’s head coach.
While the Colonials closed out a 16-2 conference mark by topping defending NEC champion Saint Francis U, FDU captured the lone remaining NEC Tournament berth by winning the regular season finale on Thursday evening in Hackensack.
Set to appear in the NEC Tournament for the 20th consecutive season (currently the longest active streak in the league), Sacred Heart owns the No. 2 seed following a 14-4 league record.
Meanwhile, St. Francis Brooklyn overtook SFU for the No. 3 seed on the final day of the regular season. No. 5 seed Bryant will participate in the NEC’s annual postseason event for the seventh year in a row. No. 6 Mount St. Mary’s and No. 7 Wagner are back following absences.
After experimenting with a Pod hosting format in 2018, the postseason tournament reverts back to its traditional form this March.
The 2019 NEC Tournament begins with four quarterfinal round matchups on Monday, March 11 followed by a pair of semifinal games on Thursday, March 14. The 33rd #NECWBB Championship Game will unfold on Sunday, March 17 and it will reach a live national TV audience for the 12th year running via ESPNU.
All games will be hosted by the higher seeds and teams will be re-seeded after each round.
NEC Front Row will carry the quarterfinal round games while the semifinal matchups will also be available on ESPN3.
QUARTERFINAL MATCHUPS
(Monday, March 11)
#8 FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON at #1 ROBERT MORRIS (Moon Township, PA – NAC)
2019 Meetings: RMU 71, FDU 49 (Jan. 7); RMU 63, FDU 43 (Feb. 2)
Robert Morris (19-10, 16-2) and Fairleigh Dickinson (8-21, 5-13) will meet in the NEC quarterfinal round for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The Colonials have won each of their three most-recent postseason battles with the Knights with all three victories coming in Moon Township. RMU, which has advanced to the conference title game five years in a row, has won its last 24 home games against NEC opponents. Meanwhile, Fairleigh Dickinson, which ended the regular season with back-to-back wins, will make its ninth NEC Tournament appearance in 12 years under head coach Pete Cinella. The Knights are searching for their first postseason victory since 1992.
#7 WAGNER at #2 SACRED HEART (Fairfield, CT – Pitt Center)
2019 Meetings: SHU 80, WAG 68 (Jan. 12); SHU 72, WAG 64 (Jan. 21)
Sacred Heart, which has never missed out on the NEC Tournament since becoming a league member in 1998, carry a five-game win streak into the postseason despite being shorthanded by injuries in recent weeks. The Pioneers, who finished in the top half of the standings for the fifth straight season under head coach Jessica Mannetti, host a Wagner team that is back in the postseason for the first time since 2014. Despite being pegged for a last-place finish by the preseason coaches’ poll, Wagner doubled its NEC win total from last year.
#6 MOUNT ST. MARY’S at #3 ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN (Brooklyn Heights, NY – Pope Center)
2019 Meetings: MSM 78, SFBK 75 (Jan. 28); SFBK 69, MSM 65 (Mar. 4)
Both head coaches will be making their NEC Tournament debuts in the 3 vs. 6 quarterfinal game. Under first-year head coach Linda Cimino, St. Francis Brooklyn has earned the right to host a NEC Tournament game for the first time this millennium. The Terriers, who secured their only conference title by winning three straight NEC Tournament road games in 2015, have paced the circuit in scoring offense since November. Meanwhile, a young Mount St. Mary’s team returns to the postseason for the first time under second-year head coach Maria Marchesano. Like the Terriers, the Mountaineers have increased their overall win total by five this winter.
#5 BRYANT at #4 SAINT FRANCIS U (Loretto, PA – Stokes Center)
2019 Meetings: BRY 66, SFU 63 (Jan. 21); SFU 78, BRY 66 (Feb. 11)
Saint Francis U will play its first NEC Tournament game at the Stokes Center since last year’s conference title game triumph over Robert Morris and it will likely be senior Jessica Kovatch’s final career home game. Kovatch, who became the conference’s all-time leading scorer earlier this season, earned the 2018 NEC Tournament MVP award after totaling 103 points over a three-game span. Meanwhile, Bryant, which has advanced to the semifinal round four times since 2013, appears to be hitting its stride. Mary Burke’s Bulldogs closed the regular season by winning five of their final six contests.