Maybe there were times Robert Morris women's basketball coach Sal Buscaglia questioned if he had over-scheduled his Colonials, who hit the road early and suffered losses to teams from major conferences.

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Today

• Game: Robert Morris (22-9) vs. Long Island (24-7) for the NEC women's championship.
• When: 3 p.m.
• Where: Sewall Center, Moon Township.
• TV: ESPNU.
• Radio: WPYT-AM (660).
• The skinny: Robert Morris has won 20 or more games in four consecutive seasons.

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They were beaten by Florida in Gainesville, Fla., by Duquesne at Palumbo Center, by Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb., by Missouri in Boca Raton, Fla. and Virginia Tech in New Orleans.

"We lost a little bit of our confidence, but in the long run it made us tougher and certainly it helped us," said Buscaglia, whose second-seeded Colonials (22-9) take a school-record 16-game win streak against fourth-seed Long Island University (24-7) in the championship game of the Northeast Conference today at 3 p.m. at Sewall Center. "The talent level in those games was so high, it showed the flaws of your team. It told us we had to step up our defense."

Robert Morris, seeking to reach the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season, has held its past nine opponents to an average of 52.8 points per game.

The Colonials, who are 10-1 at home, defeated LIU during the regular season, 76-68, and 63-55. They reached the finals with victories in the first two rounds against No. 7 St. Francis (N.Y.), 77-62, and No. 6 Monmouth, 67-62. LIU advanced with wins against No. 5 Fairleigh Dickinson, 64-53, and No. 1 Quinnipiac, 67-63.

In the victory against St. Francis, Robert Morris 6-foot-2 senior Chinata Nesbit produced her second triple-double in two weeks with 18 points, 24 rebounds and 10 assists. She had the first triple-double in school history with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in an 87-53 victory against Mount St. Mary's.

Robert Morris 6-foot junior Sade Logan, a junior-college transfer who started her collegiate career at Kentucky, tied a school record with 38 points against Monmouth. Logan, who has a school and NEC season record with 121 3-pointers, is five shy of the Division I record of 126 set by Alabama State's Lisa McMullen. Logan, who ranks second nationally with 25.4 points per game, has set school and NEC season records with 787 points, a 25.4 average, 297 field goals, 658 field-goal attempts and 121 3-pointers.

"She's a scorer," Buscaglia said of Logan. "She can get her shot off with quick looks on the break."

Logan and Nesbit (15.6 ppg) are the second-highest scoring teammates in the country with 41.0 points per game, behind Idaho State's Natalie Doma and Andrea Lightfoot with 41.3.

The Colonials are running more often than they did last season by necessity.

"We don't have the same inside presence," Buscaglia said. "We have a lot of athleticism on the perimeter."