Indianapolis – The East Coast Conference will send two teams to the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship Tournament for the third straight season the NCAA announced on Sunday evening. ECC Champion, Queens College, will be joined by New York Institute of Technology in the 64 team bracket that will crown a National Champion.
Queens College defeated Roberts Wesleyan, 60-54, on Sunday afternoon to earn their second straight ECC Championship and the conference's automatic berth into the tournament. It was the third ECC title in program history and also sends the Knights to the NCAA Tournament for the third time, as well. Queens' impressive showing in the ECC Championship catapulted them all the way to the No. 4 seed after being ranked No. 7 in the final regular season East Region rankings.
Queens will take on No. 5 seeded, Holy Family of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference. Holy Family earns an at-large bid for their second straight NCAA Tournament appearance and twelfth in the past thirteen seasons. The two schools have met already this season, with Queens coming away victorious by a final of 76-69 on November 15.
ECC Regular Season Champion, NYIT, earns an at-large bid and the No. 6 seed for their second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Their previous appearance came in the 2012-13 season, also via an at-large bid.
The Bears will take on CACC Champion and No. 3 seed, Philadelphia University. The Rams and Bears have a long history as former conference opponents when Philadelphia was a member of the ECC (at the time the conference was named the New York Collegiate Athletic Conference). The Rams hold an 18-5 edge in the all-time series with the last meeting occurring in 2009.
Bentley earns the No. 1 seed and hosting duties for the East Regional for the fifth time in six seasons. The Falcons will host the regional at the Dana Center in Waltham, Mass. after capturing the Northeast-10 Championship. They will take on fellow NE10 member, Saint Anselm.
No. 2 American International takes on No. 7 Bloomfield to round out the bracket.
Both Queens and NYIT, who will be looking for their first-ever NCAA Tournament win when they take the floor later in the week, had multiple games against the other teams in the bracket this season. The Knights were 2-3 with wins over Philadelphia and Holy Family and defeats against American International and NYIT twice. The Bears were 2-2 with a sweep of Queens and losses to Bentley and Holy Family.
Tournament play will begin at Bently with quarterfinal action on Friday, March 11. The semifinals will take place Saturday, March 12 and after a day off, the championship game will be on Monday, March 14.
To view the full 64 team bracket, click here.
2016 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball East Regional
Quarterfinals - Friday, March 11
No. 1 Bentley (25-5) vs. No. 8 Saint Anselm (18-9)
No. 2 American International (25-5) vs. No. 7 Bloomfield (24-7)
No. 3 Philadelphia U. (25-6) vs. No. 6 NYIT (24-8)
No. 4 Queens (20-8) vs. No. 5 Holy Family (22-8)
Semifinals – Saturday, March 12
No. 3-No. 6 winner vs. No. 2-No. 7 winner
No. 1-No. 8 winner vs. No. 4-No. 5 winner
Championship – Monday, March 14
