Bridgewater, NJ -- On Thursday night, the final horn sounded in Brooklyn and the last game of the Northeast Conference slate was officially in the books. Seventy-two times since Jan. 2, the ball was tipped between two Northeast Conference foes, with each game down the stretch mattering more than the one before.
Much of the suspense was taken out of the race early. FDU clinched its second NEC regular season title in the past three years last month on Feb. 22, while the four home sites for the upcoming quarterfinals of the NEC Tournament had already been determined prior to Thursday's tipoff.
This year's NEC Basketball Tournament features an eight-team field, with each game hosted by the higher-seeded team.
The NEC Tournament commences on Monday, March 10 with quarterfinal action. All games will air on
NEC Front Row. Winners will be reseeded and move on to the semifinals on Thursday, March 13. Both NEC semifinal games will air live on ESPN+ and NEC Front Row. The championship game, to be televised by ESPNU, will be contested on Sunday, March 16 at 12:00 pm.
If a reclassifying institution wins the NEC Tournament championship, the tournament runner-up will advance to the NCAA Tournament as the NEC's automatic qualifier as per current policy. In instances where two reclassifying members reach an NEC final, the NEC will stage an "AQ Qualifier" game between the two non-advancing semifinal teams. This will serve as a decisive game to determine the team that will secure the NEC's spot in the NCAA Tournament.
The league's head coaches were spot-on with their preseason projection, as the NEC Tournament will run through Hackensack for the second time since 2023. With double-double machine and six-time NEC/Atlantic Tomorrow's Office Player of the Week Teneisia Brown serving as the focal point of an
FDU (26-3, 16-0)offense that has blitzed the scoreboard during league play, the Knights' roster sports one of the deepest backcourts in the circuit. The combination of Brown and top-scorer Ava Renninger, an eight-time NEC/Atlantic Tomorrow's Office Rookie of the Week, presents a challenging duo to contain. Add to the mix a supporting cast consisting of resident three-point sharp-shooter Abby Conklin, shifty guard Abaigeal Babore and Lilly Parke, who as a forward has shown some range with 45 made threes, and you have a balanced attack that has proven to be one of the most dangerous in the conference.
Entering as the No. 2 seed,
Stonehill (15-14, 11-5 NEC) got a taste of the madness of March with a quarterfinal appearance in its first year of postseason eligibility, and this year, the Skyhawks, are looking to add their first-ever NEC Tournament victory to their résumé. In three short years, Stonehill has risen to a historic top two finish in the NEC standings by posting the first 10-plus win league slate in program history. With an old-school style of play built around a guard who can make it rain from deep in Sharn Hayward, a sophomore who has more than doubled her scoring from a season ago in Brooke Paquette and one of the league's most impactful newcomers — and post players — in transfer Kylie Swider, Stonehill has several weapons in its arsenal to make a deep run in the NEC Tournament.
Opening its league slate with wins in three of its first four games,
Central Connecticut (11-18, 10-6 NEC), which will be hosting a postseason game for the first time a decade, closed out the regular season in similar fashion. Knocking off five of its final six conference competitors — with the final three wins in that stretch being double-digit decisions — the Blue Devils enter the postseason as one of the hottest teams in the NEC. Riding the coattails of one of the most dangerous guards in the league in graduate student Belle Lanpher, the Blue Devils, who reached double digits in conference wins for the first time since 2014-15, have their sights set on of raising a banner in the rafters of Detrick Gymnasium for the first time in program history.
Two key returners went down before the squad even hit the court for the second game of the season, but that didn't stop
Saint Francis U (11-18, 9-7 NEC), which will be hosting a quarterfinal contest for the first time since 2020-21 as the No. 4 seed. Several new faces rose to the occasion and staved off what could have been devastating hits to the lineup with the loss of Kameryn Dorsey and Destini Ward. The Red Flash did not skip a beat, as they more than doubled last year's win count with nine league victories. A balanced offense anchored by Robert Morris transfer Natalie Johnson, who hit her stride in the latter half of conference play with 12.4 points per game in that stretch, will look to direct the most successful team in NEC postseason history to an unprecedented 11th tournament title, and its first since 2017-18.
In its NEC Tournament debut last year,
Le Moyne (6-23, 6-10 NEC) was on the doorstep of a storybook season. Wasting no time to make noise in their NEC arrival, the second-seeded Dolphins marched through their way to the title game, becoming the second newcomer in conference history to do so, and the first in 34 years. Under first-year head coach Nick DiPillo, a veteran-led Dolphins squad will look to make another splash in the conference championship as the No. 5 seed.
Chicago State (6-25, 6-10), which claimed the No. 6 seed, is looking to do something that no other team has done before — win the tournament title in its debut season in the NEC. Led by first-year head coach Corry Irvine, the Cougars are back in conference tournament play for the first time since 2020-21, when they competed in the WAC First Round against Utah Valley. Stringing together back-to-back victories to close out the regular season, including an overtime win against Saint Francis U this past Saturday, all but two of Chicago State's setbacks against conference competitors have been decided by seven points or fewer, with three of those games being one- or two-point decisions.
Wagner (8-20, 5-11 NEC) returns to the NEC Tournament following a brief, one-year hiatus in 2024-25. Seeded seventh, the Seahawks will look to return to the NEC semis for the first time since the 2022 tournament, and they will rely on a crop of guards who have been stellar all season. Graduate students Julia Fabozzi and Taleah Washington delivered a one-two punch offensively for the Seahawks, while rookie Keana Foz held down the defense as one of the league's top producer in steals.
NEC Tournament-bound for the fifth time in six years,
LIU (6-23, 3-13 NEC), which enters as the No. 8 seed, is chasing its first postseason triumph since 2017-18. With the consistent guard play from Janessa Williams and Sirviva Legions, and the emergence of Kaiden Glenn and Kaiden Glenn and Brianna Mead, the Sharks are looking to pull off the second 8-over-1 upset in NEC Tournament annals.
2024-25 Head-To-Head Meetings
#1 FDU vs. #8 LIU
Feb 15: FDU 75, LIU 45
March 1: FDU 73, LIU 46
#2 Stonehill vs. #7 Wagner
Feb. 20: Stonehill 77, Wagner 64
March 6: Stonehill 68, Wagner 60
#3 Central Connecticut vs. #6 Chicago State
Jan. 23: Chicago State 84, Central Connecticut 77
Feb. 20: Central Connecticut 62, Chicago State 61
#4 Saint Francis U vs. #5 Le Moyne
Jan. 11: Saint Francis U 73, Le Moyne 41
Feb. 6: Saint Francis U 66, Le Moyne 60 (ot)
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 44th season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of nine institutions of higher learning located throughout six states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Chicago (#3), Boston (#8). Hartford/New Haven (#32) and Syracuse (#87). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 25 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC full member institutions include Central Connecticut, Chicago State, FDU, Le Moyne, LIU, Mercyhurst, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league's official website (
www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (
www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.