FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Sacred Heart University women's basketball team's quest for a second consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament Title begins on Monday with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 8-seeded Saint Francis at the Pitt Center. 

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OPENING TIP

• The Pioneers and Red Flash will meet for the 52nd time on Monday, the 24th all-time meeting in Connecticut. 
• SHU owns a 30-21 lead in the all-time series after winning the last four contests, including a 76-47 win over the Red Flash in the regular-season finale on March 7. 
• The Pioneers ended the regular season with a 12-game win streak, the team's longest since winning 21 straight in the 2008-09 season. That year, the Pioneers also hosted the NEC Tournament and went on to take the league title.  
• Sacred Heart clinched the outright NEC regular-season championship with Thursday's win over SFU, the team's first since 2015-16. 
• Ny'Ceara Pryor again led the Pioneers with a game-high 15 points against the Red Flash. In 26 minutes, she also chipped in six rebounds, three steals, and two assists. 
• Nalyce Dudley had one of her better games against Saint Francis, tallying 14 points and eight rebounds in 21 minutes. She finished two points shy of her career high and two rebounds short of her third double-double.
• For the first time since 2021, the Pioneers finished with five double-digit scorers, as Amelia Wood tallied 13 points and Olivia Tucker and Sajada Bonner each had 10 to join Pryor and Dudley. 

POSTSEASON HISTORY

• The Pioneers head into the NEC Tournament as the regular-season champions for the first time since 2015-16. 
• SHU has won the league's regular-season title six times in program history and has won the regular-season and tournament championships in the same season three times heading into this postseason.
• Sacred Heart eyes its fifth NEC Tournament and its first-ever back-to-back championship. 
• The Pioneers have qualified for 24 of the last 25 NEC Tournaments. 
• SHU is 6-1 in its last seven NEC quarterfinal games, defeating LIU by a 63-44 final score last year. 
• The Pios are 25-25 all-time in the postseason. 
• In their history, the Pioneers have won four NEC titles (2006, 2009, 2012, 2023) and made four appearances in the NCAA Tournament (2006, 2009, 2012, 2023) and three in the WNIT Tournament (2013, 2016, 2017).
• Sacred Heart is 20-8 when playing postseason contests at the Pitt Center.
• The Pioneers defeated Southern in their historic tournament run in the NCAA First Four last year, marking the first NCAA Tournament win for an NEC team. 
• SHU last met SFU in the NEC Tournament during the 2019-20 season, when the Pios defeated the Red Flash 73-70 in Loretto, Pa. 

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS
After suffering the loss in Thursday's contest, the Red Flash were slotted as the eighth seed in the NEC Tournament, finishing the league slate at 4-12. The Red Flash have hit a rough patch of late, losing five straight, including a pair of 29+ point losses in their last two games. Leading the offense has been the freshman duo of Kendall Carruthers and Kameryn Dorsey. Carruthers is the team's leading scorer at 14.0 points per game, which ranks fourth in the conference. She also ranks second on the team with 2.1 assists per game. Dorsey paces SFU and ranks fourth in the NEC with 3.3 assists per game. 

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. SAINT FRANCIS
Monday's contest will mark the 52nd all-time meeting in the long-time series between the Pioneers and Red Flash. SHU holds a 30-21 lead in the series, winning the last four contests. The Pios swept this season's series, winning by an average of 34.0 points per game.