FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Sacred Heart University women's basketball team welcomes Canisius on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the William H. Pitt Center to close out the two teams' season series. Tipoff for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) contest is set for 7 p.m. 

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OPENING TIP

• The Pioneers host the Golden Griffins on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the two teams' second contest of the season. 
• SHU won the first meeting of the year 70-63 on Jan. 4 in the Pios' first game of 2025. 
• The Pioneers suffered a heart-breaking 56-53 road loss at Saint Peter's on Saturday afternoon. 
• Sacred Heart trailed by 11, 31-20, at halftime but started to storm back in the second half. 
• SHU was down five points in the third quarter and was up multiple times in the fourth, but a key miss by the Pios and late free throws by the home team ensured a win for the Peacocks. 
• Ny'Ceara Pryor did everything in her power to bring the Pioneers back, posting game-highs with 23 points and 13 rebounds, the latter tying a career-high for the junior. 
• With 23 points on Saturday, she became the eighth player in program history to tally 1,500 in their career.

LAST TIME OUT
Sacred Heart suffered a heart-breaking 56-53 road loss at Saint Peter's on Saturday afternoon. The Peacocks owned a 31-20 lead after the first half before SHU started to rally. The Pioneers trimmed the deficit to five after the third quarter and ended up taking the lead in the fourth. SHU led multiple times in the fourth, including a 53-52 advantage with 46 seconds remaining. Unfortunately for the Pioneers, SPU scored on its next possession while the Pios missed their next shot. Saint Peter's made a pair of free throws seven seconds left to go up three. SHU had a good look at tying the game, but the shot found the front rim as the Peacocks escaped with a 56-53 win. Ny'Ceara Pryor did everything in her power to bring the Pioneers back, posting game-highs with 23 points and 13 rebounds, the latter tying a career-high for the junior. 

1,500 CLUB
With 23 points on Saturday, Pryor became the eighth player in program history to reach 1,500 career points, the first since Hannah Kimmel reached the milestone in 2017. She needs 19 points to catch Kaitlin Sowinski (1,541) for seventh place on the all-time scorer leaderboard and is 29 points behind Alisa Apo (1,551) for sixth. The next milestone for Pryor to reach would be to become the second player in program history to score 2,000 points, joining Amanda Pape (2,045) for this rarefied accomplishment.

SCOUTING CANISIUS

• The Golden Griffins are 3-14 this season and 2-5 in the MAAC. 
• Canisius has hit a groove since its first meeting against the Pioneers, as two of its three wins this season have come this month. 
• The Griffs tallied wins over Rider (63-43) and Iona (66-63).
• In its most recent game, Canisius fell at home to Fairfield, 97-41. 
• Franka Wittenberg and Jaela Johnson lead the way for the Griffs with 9.7 and 9.5 points per game, respectively. 
• Johnson and Wittenberg also lead the team with 2.8 and 2.4 assists per game, respectively. 
• Shariah Gailes has been the team's leader in the paint with 7.3 rebounds per game.

SERIES HISTORY

• Thursday will mark the second meeting between the Pioneers and Golden Griffins after this season's first contest.
• The Pioneers defeated the Golden Griffins, 70-63, on Saturday, Jan. 4, in Buffalo, N.Y., in SHU's first game of 2025.