FAIRFIELD, Conn – The Sacred Heart University women's basketball team handed FDU a 68-51 loss on a busy Saturday at the Pitt Center, as the Pioneers also celebrated National Girls & Women in Sports Day (NGWSD) and honored the team's 50th anniversary.
Ny'Ceara Pryor continued to shine this season, finishing the afternoon with a near triple-double on 18 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and a season-best six steals.
Amelia Wood also continued her outstanding stretch of play with 23 points, her third 20+-point performance of the season, as she hit a career-best five 3-pointers. She also added four rebounds and a career-high tying five steals.
Nalyce Dudley rounded out SHU's double-digit scorers with 16 points and six rebounds.
Records:
Sacred Heart: 12-9, 6-1 NEC
FDU: 6-14, 4-3 NEC
Top Performers:
Amelia Wood: 23 points, 4 rebounds, 5 steals, 5 3-pointers
Ny'Ceara Pryor: 18 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 6 steals, 1 block
Nalyce Dudley: 16 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block
How It Happened:
The Pioneers started the first quarter slowly, with an Abby Conklin 3-pointer giving the visitors a 15-6 advantage with 2:02 left in the frame. The Pios rallied with a 5-0 surge to end the quarter to cut the deficit to 15-11 after one. Wood started the surge with the first of her five triples.
Sacred Heart really ramped up the pressure in the middle two quarters, winning the frames by a combined 51-23 score. Wood started the run with a triple, which led to a 19-4 SHU surge to begin the frame. A Pryor layup at 3:44 ended the run and gave the Pios a 30-21 lead. Wood hit another one from behind the arc with 3:06 left in the second to help Sacred Heart take a 37-24 lead into the halftime break.
Coming out of the break, SHU went on a 10-2 run to take a 44-29 advantage at 5:34 in the third.
Nalyce Dudley shined over the 4:26 stretch with six points on three baskets. The Pioneers scored 20 of the next 26 points over 5:27 to build a game-high lead of 27, 62-35. A half-court heave from the Knights sent us into the fourth up 62-38.
The Pios held on in the fourth quarter, working their way to a 68-51 home victory.
Up Next:
Sacred Heart will hit the road for its next game, heading to North Easton, Mass., to play Stonehill on Thursday, Feb. 1, at 6 p.m.
