West Babylon, N.Y. – The bracket for the East Coast Conference Women's Basketball Championship is now set after the conclusion of regular season play earlier this afternoon.
Tournament action begins on Wednesday, March 4 with the first round taking place at on-campus sites. The University of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. will host the semifinals and final of the tournament at the UDC Sports Complex on Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 8.
St. Thomas Aquinas (21-6, 13-3 ECC) claims the top seed for the second straight year after earning a share of the ECC Regular Season Championship. The Spartans are aiming to win their second ECC Championship in three seasons and keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive after coming in at No. 7 in last week's NCAA East Region rankings.
St. Thomas Aquinas' semifinal opponent will be either No. 4 Molloy or No. 5 Roberts Wesleyan.
Molloy (20-8, 12-4 ECC) is back in the bracket for the first time since 2017. The Lions, ranked No. 9 in last week's NCAA East Region rankings, have won the ECC Championship on three occasions, the last coming in the previously mentioned 2017 season.
Roberts Wesleyan (15-11, 8-8 ECC) has now qualified for six straight ECC Championships. The Redhawks have played in the first round in each although this is just the second time they will start the tournament on the road.
Molloy and Roberts will meet again for the second time in four days after closing the regular season against each other earlier today. The Lions swept the season series.
Daemen (21-5, 13-3 ECC) earns a bye for the second year in a row after sharing the ECC Regular Season Championship with St. Thomas Aquinas. After dropping their opening game in each of the past two postseasons, the Wildcats will attempt to win an ECC Championship game for the first time when they take the court in Saturday's semifinals.
The Wildcats, who were just ahead of St. Thomas Aquinas in last week's NCAA East Region rankings at No. 6, await the winner of the No. 3 vs. No. 6 matchup that features New York Tech and Bridgeport.
Tech (19-9, 12-4 ECC) enters the tournament red-hot, having won their last eight games. The Bears are the defending ECC Champions after finally getting over the hump last season. Prior to their title in 2019, Tech had appeared in four of the previous six seasons with nothing to show for it.
Bridgeport (6-22, 4-12 ECC) was the final team to clinch a spot, doing so with a win over Mercy in their regular season finale. The victory gave the Purple Knights the No 6 seed for the second consecutive season. Bridgeport is in search of its first conference championship since 2005.
Tech swept the season series against Bridgeport. The Bears won the previous meeting in Recreation Hall by a 65-57 margin.
Follow Live
Each game of the championship will be broadcast live. The First Round and Semifinal contests will be broadcast on the ECC Network at www.eccsportsnetwork.com. The games will also be available on the ECC Network app. Download the ECC Network app on any Apple or Android mobile devices or on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Roku OTT streaming devices. In addition, the semifinal games from Washington will be syndicated to watch live on the ECC Facebook and Twitter pages.
The championship final will stream live on www.espn.com and the ESPN app as part of the NCAA Division II Showcase.
Twitter updates will also be available throughout the tournament, follow @ECCSports. To see highlights during the semifinal contests, follow @ECCSportsNet on Twitter. Tournament recaps, live stats, box scores, and all other pertinent tournament information will also be available on at the tournament central web pages.
2020 East Coast Conference Women's Basketball Championship
First Round – Wednesday, March 4 at campus sites
5:00 p.m. - No. 5 Roberts Wesleyan at No. 4 Molloy
7:30 p.m. - No. 6 Bridgeport at No. 3 New York Tech
Semifinals – Saturday, March 7 at UDC
12:00 p.m. - RWC/MOL vs. No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas
2:30 p.m. - UB/NYT vs. No. 2 Daemen
Final – Sunday, March 8 at UDC
12:00 p.m. - Semifinal winner vs. Semifinal winner
