2018 Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament


The 2018 Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Tournament was the concluding event of the 2017–18 season of the Northeast Conference, held from March 7–11, 2018. Unlike most NCAA Division I basketball conference tournaments, the NEC tournament does not include all of the league's teams. The tournament instead features only the top eight teams from regular-season NEC play. Regular-season co-champion Saint Francis of Pennsylvania won the tournament and with it the NEC's automatic berth in the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament.

Format

For the first time, the NEC Women's Basketball Tournament did not use what the conference calls a "complete high-seed hosting" format, in which all games are played at the home of the higher seed. In addition, the tournament did not reseed teams after each round, a format it had used since the 2011 edition. Instead, each half of the bracket was hosted by one of the league's two top seeds. The final continues to be played at the home court of the top remaining seed.

Seeds

The NEC uses the following criteria for breaking two-way ties in the conference standings:
The procedure for breaking ties in which three or more teams are involved will not be discussed here, since no such ties existed this season.
SeedSchoolConferenceOverallTiebreaker 1Tiebreaker 2Tiebreaker 3
1Saint Francis 16–221–91–1 vs. RMU3–1 vs. SFB/SHU, 12–0 vs. remainder of NECRPI: 117
2Robert Morris16–223–61–1 vs. SFU3–1 vs. SFB/SHU, 12–0 vs. remainder of NECRPI: 132
3St. Francis Brooklyn9–913–161–1 vs. SHU1–3 vs. SFU/RMU, 4–0 vs. Bryant/LIUB
4Sacred Heart9–913–161–1 vs. SFB1–3 vs. SFU/RMU, 2–2 vs. Bryant/LIUB
5Bryant8–109–201–1 vs. LIUB0–4 vs. SFU/RMU, 3–1 vs. SFB/SHU
6LIU Brooklyn8–1012–171–1 vs. Bryant0–4 vs. SFU/RMU, 1–3 vs. SFB/SHU
7Central Connecticut7–117–221–1 vs. FDU0–4 vs. SFU/RMU, 3–1 vs. SFB/SHU
8Fairleigh Dickinson7–1115–141–1 vs. CC0–4 vs. SFU/RMU, 2–2 vs. SFB/SHU

Bracket

The top two seeds each hosted their half of the bracket; the final was hosted by the top remaining seed.

All-tournament team

Tournament MVP in bold.
NameSchool
Jessica KovatchSaint Francis
Caitlyn KrollSaint Francis
Jocelynne JonesRobert Morris
Denisha Petty-EvansLIU Brooklyn
Tykera CarterSacred Heart