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Somerset, NJ - They were the top-two finishers in the preseason coaches' poll and they will be the top-two seeds in the 2018 Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament.
 
Sharing the regular season crown by virtue of their 16-2 records, Saint Francis U and Robert Morris headline the eight-team postseason bracket and will each host a four-team quarterfinal/semifinal pod.
 
By virtue of RPI ranking tiebreaker, Saint Francis U earns the No. 1 seed in the NEC Tournament and will welcome No. 4 Sacred Heart, No. 5 Bryant and No. 8 Fairleigh Dickinson to Loretto for quarterfinal round competition on Wednesday, March 7. The Red Flash, who were tabbed the NEC preseason favorite back in October, were slotted at 117th in the latest NCAA RPI rankings.
 
No. 2 seed Robert Morris will host No. 3 St. Francis Brooklyn, No. 6 LIU Brooklyn and No. 7 Central Connecticut in Moon Township. The Colonials, who captured their third title in a four-year span last March, ended the regular season with a 132 RPI ranking.
 
It is the first instance in NEC women’s basketball history that RPI was needed to determine seeding after all other tiebreakers were exhausted.

It is also the first time that the conference is employing this particular tournament format, splitting the bracket into two four-team pods for quarterfinal and semifinal round play. Most recently, the NEC followed a complete high-seed hosting format that required re-seeding following each round. That configuration was used each of the past seven years.

The winners of Wednesday's quarterfinal matchups will remain at their respective host sites for the semifinal round on Thursday. All quarterfinal and semifinal round contests will stream live at NECFrontRow.com. The semifinals, along with two quarterfinal matchups (SFU vs. FDU; SHU vs.BRY), will also be available on ESPN3.
 
The 2018 NEC Championship Game will be played at the home site of the highest remaining seed on Sunday, March 11 at 2:00 pm ET on ESPNU.
 
Top-seeded teams have gone on to win the NEC Tournament crown 18 times in 31 years.
 
Six of the eight teams in this year’s field have at least one NEC Tournament crown to their credit; Central Connecticut and Bryant are seeking their first title.
 
 
QUARTERFINAL ROUND MATCHUPS
(Wednesday, March 7)
 
#1 SAINT FRANCIS U vs. #8 FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON (Loretto, PA), 5:00 pm
2018 Meetings: SFU 80, FDU 56 (Dec. 31); SFU 80, FDU 61 (Feb. 19)
Saint Francis U has staked a claim to the NEC regular season title for the first time since 2011 while Fairleigh Dickinson qualified for the conference tournament as the No. 8 seed for the second year in a row. The Red Flash have also eclipsed the 20-win mark for the first time since that 2011 championship run. The Knights, who posted the best non-conference mark (8-3) amongst NEC teams, have 15 overall wins for the first time this millennium. Both teams lead the conference in at least one major offensive category. SFU averages a league-high 81.1 points per game, a mark that ranks 15th in NCAA Division I. FDU owns the NEC’s top-ranked team field goal percentage (.409).
 

#4 SACRED HEART vs. #5 BRYANT (Loretto, PA), 8:00 pm
2018 Meetings: BRY 81, SHU 73 (Jan. 15); BRY 60, SHU 56 (Feb. 5)
Sacred Heart and Bryant have never failed to qualify for the NEC Tournament. SHU, which became a NEC member in 1998, is set to make its 19th consecutive appearance. Meanwhile, Bryant, which advanced to the NEC final last March, has earned a berth every year since becoming Division I postseason eligible in 2013. Bryant swept this year's regular season series with Sacred Heart, but the last meeting came before Jessica Mannetti's team tipped off its current tear. The Pioneers closed the regular season slate with three consecutive home victories and have won six of their last seven games. Mary Burke's Bulldogs, who have won at least one NEC Tournament game each of the past four years, will look to snap a four-game slide heading into the postseason.
 
 
#2 ROBERT MORRIS vs. #7 CENTRAL CONNECTICUT (Moon Township, PA), 4:30 pm
2018 Meetings: RMU 66, CCSU 47 (Jan. 29); RMU 67, CCSU 51 (Feb. 26)
Robert Morris has won three of the last four NEC Tournament titles while Central Connecticut is one of two teams in the field to have never won it all. Defensive efficiency has been at the center of RMU’s third consecutive 20-win campaign. RMU allows a league-low 53.9 points per game and owns the top field goal percentage defense (.361) on the circuit. Having won six in a row, the Colonials carry the NEC's longest active win streak into the postseason. They have held the opposition under 50 points during three of those six outings. Following a winless non-conference slate, Central Connecticut rallied to earn the program's fourth straight postseason berth and its eighth in the last 11 seasons under Beryl Piper. The Blue Devils hit their stride in early February, winning their first four games of the month.
 

#3 ST. FRANCIS BROOKLYN vs. #6 LIU BROOKLYN (Moon Township, PA), 7:30 pm
2018 Meetings: LIU 61, SFBK 59 (Dec. 29); SFBK 64, LIU 54 (Feb. 17)
It'll be the Battle of Brooklyn rubber game and it'll happen 400 miles away from the beloved borough. Neighborhood rivals St. Francis and LIU each won a head-to-head meeting on its home court this season and on Wednesday they will settle the score in Moon Township with the winner heading to the NEC Tournament semifinal round. John Thurston's Terriers, who lead the league in three-point field goal percentage (.367), own their highest seed ever. After missing out by a one-game margin last year, the Blackbirds are back in the NEC Tournament for the second time under head coach Stephanie Del Preore.