CAMBRIDGE, Mass.- The 2009 America East Women’s Basketball Championship bracket is set after the regular season came to an end on Saturday. The tournament runs March 12-15 at University of Hartford’s Chase Family Arena in West Hartford, Conn. where the nine league teams will all compete for the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Championship.
Boston University, who completed the fifth undefeated conference slate in league history, headlines the tournament as the top seed, while the host Hartford Hawks enter the championship as the second seed. The Terriers and Hawks have met in three of the last four championship finals, with Hartford being the defending champion.
Eighth-seeded Albany and ninth-seeded Maine start the tournament off in the first round game Thursday night at 7 p.m. The Great Danes and Black Bears split during the regular season.
Quarterfinal action begins Friday, March 13 when fourth-seeded Binghamton and fifth-seeded UMBC meet at 12 noon. This year marks the fifth-straight that the Bearcats have played in the four-five game, while the five seed ties for the Retrievers’ best seed entering the conference championship. Thirty minutes following that game, the Terriers will take on the winner of Thursday night’s first-round game.
The second session of the day on Friday continues with two more quarterfinals. No. 2 Hartford, hosting the tournament for the seventh time in the last eight years, plays No. 7 Stony Brook at 6 p.m., while preseason favorite Vermont, as the third seed, faces much-improved New Hampshire, the sixth seed at approximately 8 p.m.
The first two quarterfinals winners will meet at 4 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals round. The winners of the two evening quarterfinals play at 6:30 p.m. The last two teams standing on the last day will compete for the crown during Sunday’s title game at 6 p.m.
The first round game and all four quarterfinals will be available live on www.AmericaEast.com via live streaming in conjunction with Pack Network and JumpTV. Eric Frede will have the play-by-play and Adrienne Norris will provide the color analysis. Frede and Leah Secondo will team up to call the semifinals and the title game on America East Television. New England Sports Network (NESN) will show the first semifinal and the final live, while the network will air the second semifinal on taped delay on Sunday, March 15 at 12:30 p.m.