Sacred Heart
13-18,10-10MAAC
Quarterfinal vs No. 2 Fairfield
26-4,19-1MAAC
Pios Come Up Short in MAAC Quarterfinals, Fall to Fairfield 69-53
3/6/2026 2:15:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Atlantic City, N.J. – Senior Amelia Wood closed out her collegiate career with another double digit performance as one of two Pioneers to lead the Sacred Heart women's basketball team as they dropped a 69-53 decision to the No. 2 seeded Fairfield Stags in the quarterfinal round of the 2016 Air Force Reserve MAAC Championship.
With the loss, Sacred Heart concludes it 2025-26 season with a 13-18 overall record and advanced to the MAAC Championship for the first time since joining the league prior to the 2024-25 campaign.
Wood finished the season finale with 11 points, connecting on 4-fo-11 from the field, including a trio of three pointers while also securing a half dozen rebounds. Leading all Pioneer scorers on the afternoon was junior Emma Kirby who finished with 15 points, while junior Missy Nuku added her second-straight game in double figures with 10. Kirby closed out the afternoon shooting 6-of-10 from the field and was a perfect 3-of-3 at the line, while Nuku finished 3-of-8 from the field and 4-of-5 at the line.
As a team, Sacred Heart finished the game shooting 35.2 percent, making 19-of-54 field goal attempts. Among the 19 field goals were three from long range, all of which came from Wood. The Pioneers were also 12-of-14 from the free throw line as a team.
Looking ahead at the 2026-27 campaign, Sacred Heart returns three of five starters and four of its top five scorers from this season. All combined, the four returning leading scorers accounted for 58 percent of the overall scoring. The pair of losses among the starting five come in Wood and Sierra Johnson. Of the pair, Wood led the team in scoring at 12.9 points per game, while Johnson added 3.0 ppg.
RECORDS
Sacred Heart: 13-18, 10-10 MAAC
Fairfield: 26-4, 19-1 MAAC
TOP PERFORMERS
Emma Kirby: 15 points, 6 rebounds
Amelia Wood: 11 points, 6 rebounds
Missy Nuku: 10 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
FIRST QUARTER NOTES
· It was a high octane opening quarter for both teams with each shooting 50% or better from the field, with a total of 38 first quarter points combined among the two teams. The period concluded with nine lead changes and a pair of ties.
· Kirby opened up the scoring for both teams as she converted a layup on the Pioneers opening drive.
· The teams would trade baskets over the first five-plus minutes of the game with SHU making their first five shots of the game to open up a perfect 5-of-5 from the field.
· In that opening rush over the first five minutes, Kirby led the way with three field goals for six points while Wood also had six points in that stretch, those all coming on a pair of three pointers as she opened up the game 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.
· It would be nearly six minutes into the game before either team would pull away, with the Stags rattling off five-straight to erase a 16-15 SHU lead.
· Despite a pair of free throws from Kirby that closed out the quarter, the Stags took a 20-18 lead into the first intermission.
SECOND QUARTER NOTES
· Fairfield opened up the second quarter scoring with a three pointer, however it was the Pioneers who struck next as Sophie Nascimento drove to the hoop for a pair.
· The basket from Nascimento was the lone bucket for SHU until the final 2:30 of the quarter when Nuku and Nascimento went back-to-back to cap off the quarter and pull within nine at the halftime break.
· Prior to those two buckets for SHU, the Stags were able to score 12 unanswered to open up what was a 15 point lead at one point.
THIRD QUARTER NOTES
· Fairfield opened up the second half with back-to-back baskets before Sacred Heart got to work a minute into the action as Kirby connected on the first hoop of the half for SHU.
· She would also cap off what became a 5-0 run for the Pioneers with another layup, making it a 10 points game at the media break.
· After the Stags answered with six-straight it was another four point stretch for SHU with Faith Pappas adding a pair at the line and Nuku driving straight through the paint for a layup.
· Fairfield answered by closing out the quarter on a 9-0 rally to take a 54-33 lead into the final break.
FOURTH QUARTER NOTES
· For the first time since the opening quarter it was SHU who struck first in the fourth with Nuku converting another layup that put her within striking distance of double digits.
· After the first Stags basket Sierra Johnson and Nalyce Dudley went back-to-back as Sacred Heart opened up the quarter with a six of the first eight points.
· Fairfield answered by scoring 13 of the next 16 to pull their lead out to 69-42. The lone three points for the Pios came on a hoop-and-harm for Kirby who converted the old fashioned three-point play.
Sacred Heart would close out the game scoring the final 11 points of the afternoon with five from Wood, four from Nuku an a pair from Pappas with the six combined from Nuku and Pappas all coming at the free throw line.
