Sacred Heart picked 2nd in NEC preseason poll
Sacred Heart was picked second in the Northeast Conference women’s basketball preseason poll trailing only Mount St. Mary’s which returns all five starters from a 20-win team.
The Pioneers return their top four scorers and seven players who started games a season ago. Senior guard Adrianne Hagood, whose 15.6 scoring average ranked third in the Northeast Conference, leads the list of returnees. Hagwood was named to the NEC preseason team. Fellow doubledigit scorers Nikki Johnson and Jayla Davis are also back as is Olivia Dabney, the team leader in rebounds and blocked shots as the Pioneers return more than 80 percent of its scoring and more than 70 percent of the rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots.
The Pioneers, who finished in a three-way tie for fourth place in the 2019-20 NEC standings after winning the final four games of the regular season and its NEC tournament opener, also have five transfers on its roster. Nikki Johnson and Olivia Martino sat out last season after transferring in from Western Carolina and Lafayette and are eligible. Sacred Heart begins the season with its first matchup with Fairfield since 2016 on Nov. 25. A highlight of the non-conference schedule is a game at Rutgers on Dec. 20.
The Pioneers want to build on the strong ending to the season. The team was in the middle of a shootaround preparing for the
NEC semifinal game when word came back that the tournament was being canceled due to COVID-19. Sacred Heart coach Jessica Mannetti spoke on Wednesday’s NEC virtual media day about her players requesting to finish out the shootaround.
“It was this incredible moment,” Mannetti said. “We get to experience pretty incredible moments throughout out career but it was in our moment that I realized how special this group was. When they took this moment of devastation, the moment they canceled that tournament, there were tears, there was sadness, they came together and were there for each other. The smoke kind of cleared from that sadness and they just looked at me in that same and said, ‘can we play?’ Even thinking about it makes me a little teary eyed. What a special group of kids, they just love each other so much.”
Central Connecticut, led by interim head coach Kerri Reaves, was picked to finish last in the NEC despite bringing back its top three scorers including Ashley Berube who finished in the top 10 in the NEC in both scoring and rebounding and was second in blocked shots. Emma McCamus was the conference’s top freethrow shooter while Ashley Forker was fourth in assists giving the Blue Devils three seniors who combined to start 81 games a season ago.
“They have been through a lot in their four years here, they have learned a lot and I think they are ready to put it together during their senior year,” Reaves said. “They have been great leaders on the court and off the court. They were great during the summer when everybody was away and I think they are just ready to get it going and get back to the NEC tournament.”
Forker was one of the NEC’s most improved players a season ago and is looking to make another jump in her final year.
“A lot of it was extra workouts, extra shooting and getting up earlier with our position group,” Forker said. “That was painful but trusting my coaches and just being be willing to step out of my comfort zone.”
Robert Morris, which won six NEC tournament titles and earned a least a share of eight regular-season championships, is now a member of the Horizon League
MAAC VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT DATES
The MAAC announced that the 2021 women’s volleyball tournament, normally held in November, will be played from Mar. 31-Apr. 3 at the Albany Capital Center.
Fairfield is the defending regular-season champion and also won the 2019 tournament and four of the last five titles.