Sacred Heart falls to Presbyterian in First Four
The Sacred Heart women’s basketball team’s season came to end Wednesday night, as the Pioneers fell to Presbyterian 49-42 in the NCAA Tournament First Four at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.
Sacred Heart standout sophomore Ny’Ceara Pryor finished with 12 points, seven steals and four assists, but struggled throughout the game. She was 3-of-19 from the field. Presbyterian crowded the paint to wall off Pryor, who nets many of her 18.9 points per game around the rim.
Coach Jessica Mannetti said Pryor was “devastated” in the locker room and wanted to perform better.
“A lot of credit to Presbyterian,” Mannetti said. “They came out really ready to start the game and did a really great job with their defensive game plan. I thought it was really different than one we’d ever seen.”
Sierra Johnson finished with 10 points, and Nalyce Dudley had nine points and 10 rebounds. The loss snapped Sacred Heart’s 15-game win streak.
Sacred Heart competed in its second straight First Four game and made its sixth NCAA tournament appearance. The Pioneers won their First Four matchup against Southern University last year before falling to tournament top-seed Stanford in the first round.
Presbyterian, also a No. 16 seed, advances to play tournament No. 1 overall seed South Carolina at 2 p.m. on Friday at Colonial Life Arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
Presbyterian outscored Sacred Heart 29-17 in the first half and forced Sacred Heart to shoot 22.6 percent. The Blue Hose outscored the Pioneers 16-4 in the paint in the first two quarters.
Sacred Heart cut the 12point lead down to three in the third quarter with a 9-0 run. Johnson said in the press conference after the game that they were trying to everything they could to help Pryor.
“Even right after the game, I told her — she was a little emotional — I told her ‘You do a lot for this team,’ “Johnson said. “It was time for somebody else to step up. It was time for us figure out a way to kind of do it without her. ...We let her know the whole game ‘We got you.’ “
Presbyterian, however, would go on to outscore the Pioneers 14-12 in the fourth quarter to hold off Sacred Heart’s comeback attempt.
Despite the loss, Sacred Heart is on winning path under coach Jessica Mannetti. Sacred Heart won its second-straight Northeast Conference tournament title against Le Moyne College on Sunday and has two consecutive NCAA berths.
After years of doing just enough to compete but not win a Northeast Conference championship, Mannetti said she and her staff took some time to reflect during COVID to revamp their recruiting strategies and change the direction of the program.
They decided to go after hungry freshmen and transfers out to prove everyone wrong and who fit into Sacred Heart’s system, Mannetti said.
Although she struggled Wednesday, Pryor has been the face of Pioneers basketball. She leads the team in scoring, rebounds (7.1), assists (4.5), and steals (3.3). She was the first player in program and league history to earn NEC Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season — in addition to earning a spot on the First Team All-NEC and NEC AllRookie Team.
Pryor and Sacred Heart will be moving to the MAAC conference next season. The Pioneers will face tougher challenges in the MAAC, where programs such as Fairfield, Quinnipiac and Marist have built it into a respected mid-major conference.
Mannetti said they’re already shopping in the transfer portal to see which players can add value to the team.
“For us, what I hope this momentum will do is just give us great inspiration and great motivation to continue to be that program that everybody expects us to be,” Mannetti said.