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The Northeast Conference's automatic bid to the Big Dance will be once again be there for the taking when the 27th annual NEC Women's Basketball Tournament tips off on Sunday, March 10.

Top-seeded Quinnipiac will host No. 8 Bryant, while No. 2 Sacred Heart, the defending conference champion, will entertain St. Francis Brooklyn.  Both games tip off at 2:00 pm in the state of Connecticut.  The other two quaterfinal matchups, which are rematches of the regular season finales that unfolded on March 4, will begin at 3:00 pm.  No. 3 Monmouth welcomes No. 6 Mount St. Mary's to the Jersey Shore, while No. 4 Saint Francis U battles with No. 5 Central Connecticut in Loretto.

Below are 27 things every fan should know about the history of the event and this year’s eight-team field, the champion of which will receive automatic qualification into the NCAA Tournament.

1.    The 2013 NEC Tournament bracket contains three teams who were not here last year. Central Connecticut is back after failing to qualify in 2012.  St. Francis Brooklyn will make its first NEC Tournament appearance in five years, while Bryant, which is in its first-year of postseason eligibility at the Division I level, will make its debut.

2.    The 2013 NEC Tournament will follow the same “high seed host” format that was reemployed in 2011. The higher-seeded teams will host games throughout the entirety of this year's event.

3.    Exactly half of the eight-team Tournament field is still searching for its first title. Quinnipiac, Central Connecticut, St. Francis Brooklyn and newcomer Bryant have yet to cut down the nets and capture the NEC’s automatic bid to the Big Dance. 

4.    Quinnipiac owns the No. 1 seed in the NEC Tournament for the second time in its program’s history.  The Bobcats earned the top spot in 2008, proceeding to defeat Mount St. Mary’s in the quarterfinal round before suffering elimination at the hand of LIU.

5.    Two programs in the top half of this year’s field have won the last four NEC Tournament titles -- Sacred Heart (2009, 2012) and Saint Francis (PA) (2010, 2011).

6.    Saint Francis (PA) became the lowest seed ever to win the event when the No. 5 seed Red Flash went all the way in 2010.

7.    Seeded fourth in 1991, Robert Morris had been the lowest seed to ever win the tournament title.

8.    Mount St. Mary's will be making its record 22nd appearance at the NEC Tournament. The Mount’s string of 20 consecutive NEC Tournament appearances ended in 2010.  After absences in 2010 and 2011, Bryan Whitten’s team will be making back-to-back appearances.

9.    Sacred Heart, who has qualified for the NEC Tournament every year since it joined the league in 1999, owns the longest active streak for consecutive appearances (14).   Quinnipiac is right behind with 13 straight trips.

10. The No. 1 seed has won it all 15 times in 26 years.

11. In the 19 years since the Northeast conference discontinued the six-team bracket, the No. 1 seed has won 13 times and has only missed the final on four occasions.

12. The 1991 RMU Colonials are the only team to win the tournament while finishing the season with a sub-.500 winning percentage (13-17).

13. Saint Francis (PA) has the most tournament wins (39) and most NEC titles (11) of any conference team.

14. The Red Flash's record win streak of 29 straight tournament victories came to a halt at the hands of Sacred Heart in the 2009 NEC Championship Game.

15. Monmouth has made it through to the semifinals more frequently than anyone in the league. The Hawks have been amongst the Tournament's final four on 17 occasions, including five of the last six seasons.

16. The two lowest seeds to ever meet in the Championship Game were No. 4 Robert Morris and No. 6 Wagner back in 1991. RMU prevailed, 69-61.

17. No team has ever reached the century mark in a game during tournament time. Saint Francis (PA), Monmouth and Robert Morris have all scored 92 points in a Tournament game. The Red Flash did it against Monmouth in 1994 while the Hawks scored 92 against St. Francis (NY) en route to the title. RMU did it in the 2012 NEC quarterfinal round, topping the Red Flash by a score of 92-82.

18. The largest margin of victory in a tournament game (33) came in Robert Morris' 72-39 triumph over Central Connecticut State in 2005.

19. Only four players have earned both Tournament MVP and Player of the Year accolades in the same season. Monmouth's Linda Wilson was honored with both awards during the league's inaugural season in 1986-87, followed by Mount St. Mary's Susie Rowlyk in 1993-94 and Saint Francis (PA)'s Jess Zinobile in 1999-2000. Most recently, Amanda Pape of Sacred Heart was tabbed with both honors in 2005-06.  It can’t happen this year as 2013 NEC Player of the Year Artemis Spanou (Robert Morris) is not in the field.

20. Three of the five members of the 2012 NEC All-Tournament Team are back this March, including reigning Tournament MVP Ericka Norman.  Sacred Heart’s junior point guard joined Monmouth’s Alysha Womack and Abby Martin on last year’s five-member all-tourney squad.

21. Quinnipiac's Ashlee Kelly redefined "monster game" in 2004 when she poured in 38 points and grabbed 28 rebounds during a quarterfinal showdown with FDU.

22. Two days after her tournament record 28-rebound performance, QU's Ashlee Kelly hauled in 26 boards against Saint Francis (PA) to claim the top two spots on the tournament's all-time single-game rebounding list.

23. Three of the eight head coaches in this year’s field will be making their NEC Tournament debut.  Joe Haigh (Saint Francis U) and John Thurston (St. Francis Brooklyn) are in their first seasons at the helm of their programs, while Mary Burke and Bryant just gained Division I postseason eligibility after completing a reclassification process.  Sacred Heart’s Ed Swanson has the most NEC Tournament appearances (14) of the field with Quinnipiac’s Tricia Fabbri (13) right behind.

24. Sacred Heart's Ed Swanson has more NEC Tournament wins (15) than any other coach in this year's eight-team field. With one more win, he can tie former Saint Francis U head coach Jenny Przekwas’ record (16).

25. No. 8 seed Bryant will look to produce the second-ever 8-over-1 upset in NEC Tournament history. St. Francis (NY) was the first to pull off the feat when they ousted LIU Brooklyn in 2007.

26. Since 1994, the NEC Tournament champion has received an automatic bid to the NCAA's Big Dance. Mount St. Mary's earned the league's first-ever auto berth and faced Iowa in the 1994 NCAA First Round.

27.  For the sixth consecutive year, the NEC Women’s Basketball Championship Game will reach a national TV audience via ESPNU.  This year’s title tilt is set for March 17 at 5:00 pm.




SEEDS OF CHAMPIONS
Year, Seed - Winner
2012, #1 - Sacred Heart
2011, #1 - Saint Francis (PA)
2010, #5 - Saint Francis (PA)
2009, #1 - Sacred Heart
2008, #2 - Robert Morris
2007, #2 - Robert Morris
2006, #1 - Sacred Heart
2005, #1 - Saint Francis (PA)
2004, #1 - Saint Francis (PA)
2003, #1 - Saint Francis (PA)
2002, #1 - Saint Francis (PA)
2001, #3 - Long Island
2000, #1 - Saint Francis (PA)
1999, #2 - Saint Francis (PA)
1998, #1 - Saint Francis (PA)
1997, #1 - Saint Francis (PA)
1996, #2 - Saint Francis (PA)
1995, #1 - Mount St. Mary’s
1994, #1 - Mount St. Mary’s
1993, #2 - Mount St. Mary’s
1992, #2 - Fairleigh Dickinson\
1991, #4 - Robert Morris
1990, #3 - Fairleigh Dickinson
1981, #1 - Wagner
1988, #2 - Robert Morris
1987, #1 - Monmouth