Moon Township, Pa. – With four seniors and one junior in its starting lineup, St. Francis Brooklyn rode that experience to a big second half run and the 2015 Northeast Conference Tournament title with a 77-62 win over Robert Morris University at the Charles L. Sewall Center in Moon Township Sunday afternoon. The Colonials slip to 17-15 for the year while the Terriers improve to 15-18 and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
"First of all, I want to congratulate St. Francis Brooklyn. They deserved it, they really did," said RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia. "All the credit goes to (St. Francis) Coach Thurston. If you look at what they've done winning eight of their last nine games. They beat Bryant – who ended up as the #2 seed – on the road, then in the tournament they beat the #1 seed, the #4 seed and us, the #3 seed. Four straight wins against the top seeds … on the road. How can you not give them credit? They deserve it.
 
"We only have one junior that starts. I'm so very proud of this team that is so young, to make it this far, to the championship game and fall short to a team that is red hot, makes me very proud and I think the future is so bright. We have an opportunity with all these young kids to raise the trophy next year. I'm confident we'll be back in a position to win another trophy next season."
 
The Colonials, by contrast to the Terriers, feature a lineup with eight underclassmen, two juniors and one senior. And the Terriers didn't wilt under the Colonials pressure.
 
"I think experience played a big role in the second half with their team having four seniors and a junior," said RMU junior guard Ashley Ravelli. "I felt like we played with a lot of intensity and most teams go down when we come out with that kind of energy. They didn't back down at all and actually they came right back at us even stronger."
 
With the game tied at 38-38 and just under 15 minutes to play, St. Francis Brooklyn surged ahead for good with a 9-2 run over the next two minutes. It ended with a Sarah Benedetti, the tournament most valuable player, drilling a three point from well beyond NBA range. The senior's bomb sparked what would turn into a 24-6 run putting the visiting Terriers ahead 62-44 with 6:53 to go.
 
"Our strategy was to put pressure on them with their limited roster," said Buscaglia. "I've told [St. Francis Brooklyn coach John Thurston], years ago, if I ever got to coach with him I would want to learn about what he does offensively because he matches his offense up with the kids he has so well. We tried to get them out of their system and they would not crack. They just didn't crack."
 
During that run, the Colonials were without the services of All-NEC First Team selection Anna Niki Stamolamprou who tweaked her knee after feeding Ravelli for a three-pointer early in the second half.
 
Robert Morris, however, did not go away without a last push. A 10-2 run gave the Colonials hope as Ravelli and Stamolamprou drilled three-pointers to cut the lead to 10 points with 4:31 to play. From that point on, however, it was all St. Francis Brooklyn as they pulled away for the 15-point victory.
 
The Terriers were on fire in the second half, going 7-of-9 from three-pointer range and 14-of-24 from the floor. The Colonials shot 50 percent (26-52) for the game, but could overcome the Terriers unrelenting offensive rebounding. The victors corralled 14 offensive boards resulting in 14 second chance points.
 
Robert Morris was led by Ravelli's 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting including a 3-of-4 clip from long range. Stamolamprou tacked on 12 points and four assists. The lone senior on the squad, Jolie Olingende finished with six points and seven rebounds – six offensive – in just 10 minutes of playing time.
 
Benedetti finished with 29 points on 9-of-16 shooting, including 5-of-6 from long range. She added nine rebounds, three assists, one block and one steal. Jaymee Veney and Eilidh Simpson added 14 each and Leah Fechko chipped in with 12 points.