FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The No. 1 Sacred Heart University women's basketball team returns to the Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament semifinals for the second straight season on Thursday, welcoming No. 4 Merrimack at 7 p.m. at the Pitt Center. 

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OPENING TIP

• The Pioneers and Warriors will meet for the 14th time on Thursday. Merrimack holds a slim 7-6 lead in the all-time series. 
• SHU is on a three-game win streak over the Warriors heading into Thursday's bout, having won both games this season and last year's NEC semifinal.
• With Monday's victory over SFU, the Pioneers are riding a 13-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 opened the NEC Tournament Monday with a convincing 78-48 home win over Saint Francis in the quarterfinals. 
• Ny'Ceara Pryor paced the team with 23 points, adding seven rebounds, four assists and two steals to her stellar stat line. Pryor has reached 20+ points in seven of her last eight contests. 
• Olivia Tucker had one of the best performances of her career Monday, tying her career high with 21 points. She went 6-for-11 from the field, with three 3-pointers, and missed one free throw on seven attempts. 
• Sajada Bonner and Nalyce Dudley also crossed double figures with 10 points each. Dudley added three rebounds and a game-high three steals in her 22 minutes.

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.
• Sacred Heart eyes its fifth NEC Tournament title and its first-ever back-to-back championship. 
• The Pioneers have qualified for 24 of the last 25 NEC Tournaments. 
• SHU is 7-1 in its last eight NEC quarterfinal games.
• The Pioneers are 2-3 in their five NEC semifinals under Head Coach Jessica Mannetti, winning last season and in 2016, the last time the team won the regular-season championship. 
• SHU is 26-25 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 21-8 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 met Merrimack in last season's NEC semifinal. The Pioneers handed the Warriors a 68-61 defeat at the Pitt Center, avenging two losses in the regular season.

RECORD WATCH
No stranger to setting records in her short but storied career, Pryor is on the cusp of doing something no other Pioneer has ever done. The sophomore guard has scored 578 points so far this season, which is just 42 shy of tying the single-season scoring record for the program. Amanda Pape holds the mark at 620 after her outstanding 2006-07 season. Pryor is averaging a career-best 18.6 points per game and has tallied 20+ in seven of the last eight contests.

SCOUTING THE WARRIORS
The fourth-seeded Warriors head to the semifinals after defeating Central Connecticut by a 76-51 final score on Monday. Merrimack controlled the contest after the first quarter, leading by as much as 25 in the game. Graduate guard Kaylee Thomas led the way with a career-best 28 points and six 3-pointers. In the interior, freshman Madison Roman hauled in a season-high 17 rebounds. The win was much needed for the Warriors, who entered the playoffs riding a three-game losing streak. For the season, Thomas paces the team with 14.3 points per game, while Jayme DeCesare and Amaya Staton are tied for second at 10.9. 

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. MERRIMACK
Thursday's semifinal will mark the 14th all-time meeting between the Pioneers and Warriors. SHU is one game shy of tying the all-time series, trailing 7-6 after winning both contests this season. The Pioneers won both of this year's games by an average of 13.5 points.