Fairleigh Dickinson women are heading to March Madness with NEC title game opponent ineligible

HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) — Fairleigh Dickinson earned the first NCAA Tournament bid in school history after beating Chicago State 90-61 in the Northeastern Conference Tournament semifinals on Thursday night.

The Knights (28-3) received the automatic bid because the other semifinal between Stonehill and Le Moyne, which Stonehill won 60-41, featured teams ineligible for the NCAA Tournament because they are still in the process of transitioning to Division I.

“We all said treat this game like its a final,” FDU star Teneisia Brown said. “Win this game and basically sets us up for the tournament. We also know we have one more. That’s what going to seal everything for us. We have one more and want it all.”

At the final buzzer, FDU players had a massive group hug, jumping up and down in front of their bench in celebration and holding up signs that read “Ticket Punched.”

Coach Stephanie Gaitley, who has taken three other teams to the NCAA Tournament, said she didn't even mention to the team what was at stake. They already knew.

“I struggled with it, I felt I didn't want to add any more pressure on it. I knew they were nervous about Chicago State,” the coach said.

The Knights and Skyhawks will play for the conference tournament title Sunday, but there will be a lot less on the line.

Gaitley said the team will have another celebration Sunday, win or lose.

FDU jumped all over Chicago State (7-26), opening the game with a 21-4 run. Lilly Parke, Abaigeal Babore and Brown combined for all the points during the burst. Parke had nine with Babore and Brown each adding six.

Brown finished with 23 points and Parke had 21 for FDU, which has won 21 straight games. The team's only losses this season came against Syracuse, Rutgers and UConn. The game against the Huskies was the record-breaking one for UConn coach Geno Auriemma, who passed Tara VanDerveer for the most wins in NCAA history.

Fairleigh Dickinson will most likely be a 16 seed on Sunday when the bracket is announced. Sacred Heart is the only NEC team to win a game in the women's NCAA Tournament, topping Southern in a play-in game in 2023.

Still, being a 16 seed has proven successful for the school in the past. The men's program shocked Zach Edey and No. 1 seed Purdue in the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

“They made us a household name and we can only hope to inspire as much as they did,” Babore said.

It was only the second time that's happened in the men's bracket. Harvard shocked Stanford as the only 16 seed to win a game in the women's tournament.

The Knights won the conference tournament in 1990 and 1992, but the league didn't receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament until 1994.

Chicago State won six more games than last season, when it was 1-26. Had the Cougars pulled off the victory on Thursday night, they would have entered March Madness with the worst record in tournament history, surpassing Missouri, which was 12-17 in 1994.

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