FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The top-seeded Sacred Heart University women's basketball team looks to win its second consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament Championship Sunday with a noon matchup against second-seeded Le Moyne at the Pitt Center. 

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OPENING TIP

• The Pioneers and Dolphins will meet for the 12th time on Sunday. After splitting the season series, SHU trails in the all-time series by a slim 5-6 margin.
• Sacred Heart cruised to a convincing 73-55 over Le Moyne in the much-anticipated rematch on Feb. 3 in Syracuse. 
• With Thursday's victory over Merrimack, the Pioneers are riding a 14-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 earned its second 30+-point victory in as many games with a dominant defensive performance against the Warriors in a 73-41 win. 
• The Pioneers' defense shined brightest in the first and fourth quarters, as the team held Merrimack to nine points in the first and four in the fourth. In the final quarter, the Warriors shot 1-for-11 (9.1%) from the field and were outscored by three Pioneers-Ny'Ceara Pryor (8), Nalyce Dudley (5) and Amelia Wood (5). 
• Pryor tallied a new career-high against Merrimack with 28 points. The two-time NEC Player of the Year added six rebounds, six assists and a season-high six steals in another outstanding performance. 
• Olivia Tucker and Wood also crossed double figures with 11 points each.

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 3-3 in their six 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 27-25 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).
• Due to Le Moyne ineligibility to make the NCAA Tournament, SHU clinched its second straight bid to the big dance on Thursday. 
• 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. 
• Sunday will mark the first time that SHU and Le Moyne will meet in the postseason as Division I programs. They did meet once in the NECC Playoffs in the 1992-93 campaign, with the Pios taking a 69-59 win.

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 606 points so far this season, which is just 14 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 18.9 points per game and has tallied 20+ in eight of the last nine contests.

SCOUTING THE DOLPHINS
The two best teams in the NEC all season will meet in the championship Sunday. The second-seeded Dolphins finished the league slate 14-2, falling to the Pioneers and Saint Francis. After finishing second in the conference, Le Moyne was well-represented in the NEC year-end awards, winning Defensive Player (Lytoya Baker) and Coach of the Year (Mary Grimes). Baker averaged 15.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks per game during Le Moyne's 16 conference matchups this season, and was the NE10 Defensive Player of the Year last season. Baker on the First Team and Sydney Lusher on the Third were the Dolphins' two All-NEC selections. Lusher averaged 9.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks per game in her sophomore season. 

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. LE MOYNE
SHU will battle the Dolphins for the 11th time in both teams' histories on Sunday, following this season's series. The two teams split the two games this year, with SHU taking the last matchup 73-55 at Le Moyne on Feb. 3. With the win, Sacred Heart improved to 5-6 all-time against the Dolphins.