WEST HARTFORD, Conn.-- The Boston U. women's basketball team secured the America East Regular Season Championship Saturday evening with a win over Hartford at the Chase Family Arena, the same site which will host next week's conference tournament. The Terriers will enter the tournament as the top seed after going 15-1 during the conference regular season.
The 2012 America East Men's and Women's Basketball Championship presented by Newman's Own will be held March 1-4 in West Hartford, Conn. The first round will be played the night of Thursday, March 1, while four quarterfinal games are slated for Friday, March 2. The first round and quarterfinal contests will be streamed live in HD on America East All-Access at www.AmericaEast.com for free. Partnering with Pack Network, America East will also provide live video streaming for iPhones.
The semifinals will feature the four remaining teams on Sunday, March 4. Both games will be available live on ESPN3.
The Championship Game will be at the highest remaining seed's home court on Saturday, March 10 at 8 p.m. The final, which will crown the 2012 America East Champion and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, will be televised on ESPN Regional Television as well as nationally on ESPN3.
To earn the number one seed, the Terriers (22-7 overall record) needed to win on Saturday and responded with a 57-52 victory behind junior Mo Moran's season-high 20 points, including the guard's 1,000th career point.
The rest of the tournament seeds fell into place over the final days of the regular season, which concluded on Saturday. Albany (20-9), which finished its regular season Wednesday night, will play as the two seed with a 14-2 record. It is the Great Danes' highest-ever seed for the America East Championship.
Hartford (19-11, 10-6 AE), the defending America East Champions, will host the first three rounds of the tournament on its home court at the Reich Family Pavilion and will play as the three seed after winning eight of the final nine games of the league slate.
University of New Hampshire (16-12, 9-7 AE) and UMBC (15-14, 9-7 AE) will face each other in the quarterfinals after finishing in a fourth-place tie. Both teams won Saturday afternoon's contests over Binghamton and Vermont, respectively, and finished with 9-7 conference records. The Wildcats' 4-4 conference road record bettered the Retrievers' 3-5 mark to win the tiebreaker for the four seed.
Binghamton(12-17, 6-10 AE), the six seed, will face the Hawks in the quarterfinals, while Vermont (10-19, 4-12 AE) will square off as the seven seed against the Great Danes. Maine 7-22, 4-12 AE) and Stony Brook (4-25, 1-15 AE) will meet for the second time in six days in the first round of the tournament after the Black Bears defeated the Seawolves 45-40 in the regular-season finale Saturday.
Single-session tickets for the 2012 America East Basketball Championship will go on sale Monday, February 27, while all-session packages are currently available. For more information on how to purchase tickets and the championship, visit Championship Central.
2012 America East Basketball Championship presented by Newman's Own
First, Quarterfinal and Semifinal Rounds held at University of Hartford's Chase Family Arena, West Hartford, Conn.
Thursday, March 1 - First Round
#9 Stony Brook vs. #8 Maine, 6:05 p.m. - AE All-Access Live Video
Friday, March 2 - Quarterfinals
Winner of First Round Game vs #1 Boston U., 12:05 p.m. - AE All-Access Live Video
#5 UMBC vs. #4 New Hampshire, 2:15 p.m. - AE All-Access Live Video
#7 Vermont vs. #2 Albany, 6:05 p.m. - AE All-Access Live Video
#6 Binghamton vs. #3 Hartford, 8:15 p.m. - AE All-Access Live Video
Sunday, March 4 - Semifinals
Semifinal #1, 11:02 a.m. - ESPN3
Semifinal #2, 1:15 p.m. - ESPN3
Saturday, March 10 - Title Game at highest seed remaining
8 p.m. - ESPN3 / ESPN Regional