Brooklyn, N.Y. / Wellness Center?Junior guard Sade Logan (Knoxville, Tenn. / Chattanooga State) tied her own school record with 38 points as she led the #2 Robert Morris University women's basketball team to a 67-52 win over #6 Monmouth University in the semifinals of the 2008 Northeast Conference Tournament at Long Island University's Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center Sunday afternoon.
In addition to tying her own school record for points, Logan set a new standard for three-pointers (7) in a NEC Tournament game, tied the NEC tournament record for field goals made (15) and tied her own school record for field goal attempts (30). Logan went 15-30 from the field and 7-of-17 from three-point range. She also went 1-of-2 from the free-throw line.
“It was a great win for us, but it only takes us to the next step,” said RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia. “Sade once again had a remarkable performance, but I thought the entire team made contributions in different ways.”
The Colonials (22-9) have won 16 straight games and will play in the NEC Tournament Championship game for the second straight season and third time in the last four seasons. They will face #4 Long Island who upset #1 Quinnipiac, 67-63, in the first semifinal game on Sunday afternoon. The final, which is to be televised on ESPN-U, will tip-off at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 16, at Robert Morris' Charles L. Sewall Center.
“Long Island is a very good team and a very intelligent team,” said Buscaglia. “It's great to play the game at home, but it certainly doesn't guarantee us anything.”
Senior forward Chinata Nesbit (Washington, D.C. / Chipola JC) and junior guard Angela Pace (Westchester, N.Y. / Monroe College) were the only other two Colonials in double-figures. Nesbit had 12 points and six rebounds while Pace tallied a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Logan found her stroke early in the first when her first three-pointer of the game sparked 10 straight points for the All-NEC First Team selection. She hit a pair of two-pointers and followed with another three during a 14-3 RMU run that gave the Colonials a 23-11 lead with 10:09 left in the first half. After trading buckets, the Hawks scored five straight points on a Rachel Ferdinand jumper and a Marisa Jimenez three-point play, cutting the margin to 25-19 with 8:06 to the break.
That 5-0 spurt was the start of a 9-2 run that saw Monmouth come to within four points, 27-23, on a Brianne Edwards layup with 6:52 showing. A Logan three-pointer countered the run before Edwards answered with a fast break bucket. An offensive board and putback by junior forward Grace Williams (Baxley, Ga. / Frank Phillips JC) followed by Logan's four trey of the half put RMU back on top by 10, 35-25, as the Colonials took a 38-28 lead into the break.
After a Logan three-pointer on the Colonials first possession of the second half preceded a pair of buckets by Jennifer Bender and a Jimenez layup to open the second half cut the RMU lead to seven points. Trading baskets for the next four minutes, RMU went on a mini-run scoring four straight points to go up, 50-38, with 12:27 left.
Monmouth responded with a eight unanswered points to cut the lead to four points when Marbely Montes scored on a fast break layup with 8:56 left, making it 50-46. Logan again came up with the answer for the Colonials drilling a three-pointer and then baseline jumper to put the lead back to nine and start a 17-6 run to close out RMU's 67-52 victory.
Bender ?s 13 points led a balanced Monmouth attack that saw eight players score at least three points. The Hawks shot 37.5 percent from the field, but just 12.5 percent (1-8) from three-point range. Robert Morris hit 46.6 percent of its shots and were 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from long-range.
