BROOKLYN, N.Y. ? The sixth-seeded Monmouth University women's basketball team battled all game, but ultimately fell 67-52 to second-seed and defending conference champion Robert Morris in the 2008 Northeast Conference Semifinals on Sunday afternoon at the Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center on the campus of Long Island University.
For the second straight season, Monmouth University's season ends in the conference tournament semifinals, where last season they fell 50-46 at Sacred Heart.
The Colonials held an early 14-8 advantage after five straight points from NEC Player of the Year Sade Logan, including a step back two with 14:02 left in the first half. Veronica Randolph (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Deerfield Beach) hit a straight away pull up three-pointer in transition to cut the Robert Morris lead in half 14-11 with 12:18 left before halftime. Logan took over for Robert Morris midway through the first half scoring 10 straight Colonial points, including a pair of trifectas, en route to the higher seed taking a 21-11 lead with 9:52 left before the break.
Nyaimah Ware (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) halted a 9-0 RMU run with a traditional three-point play at the 9:17 mark, but a Logan three-pointer pushed their lead back to 25-14. Rachel Ferdinand (Califon, N.J./Voorhees) scored on a drive for Monmouth, and then after a MU steal on the ensuing inbounds, Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) converted a traditional three-point play to cut the lead to 25-19 with 8:06 remaining before the half.
The Colonials lead held at 32-25, but Monmouth cranked up their fast break as senior Brianne Edwards (Bloomfield, Conn./Suffield) scored a pair of buckets, the second at the 4:52 mark of the half. Robert Morris took a 38-28 lead at intermission behind 22 first half points from Logan. The Colonials shot 50.0 % from the floor in the first half and outrebounded MU 21-14 in the first 20 minutes. Ware and Jimenez each scored seven points apiece in the first half to pace Monmouth.
MU cut the deficit back into single digits at 41-34 after consecutive Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) buckets, the latter with 17:20 left in the second half. After the Robert Morris lead grew to 12, Monmouth went on a quick 8-0 run to cut the lead to 50-46 midway through the second half highlighted by a Bender lay up in transition at the 10:30 mark of the half and a Jimenez steal of Logan and feed to Montas for a fast break bucket.
With 4:57 remaining in the game, Monmouth trailed 56-50 after a Ferdinand runner in the lane, but Logan answered with a score for the Colonials to push their advantage back to eight with 4:23 left in the contest. Logan then drilled a left corner three-pointer to give RMU a 61-50 lead with three minutes remaining.
The Colonials advance to the NEC Championship game for the second straight season to take on fourth-seeded Long Island on Sunday, March 16 at 3:00 p.m. They got a game-high 38 points from Logan, which ties her for third all-time in NEC Tournament history, which included a new conference postseason record seven three-pointers.
Monmouth ends the 2007-08 campaign at 11-20, the first time in program history the team has suffered 20 defeats.
The Hawks made their second consecutive trip to the conference semifinals this season after pulling off another first round upset. This year MU topped #3 Sacred Heart 75-70 in the quarterfinal round yesterday, where last season they defeated #4 Quinnipiac 63-58.
