Fairfield, CT -- The Northeast Champion Sacred Heart women's basketball team makes a jump in the final Mid-Major poll for their highest ranking of the season. In the poll that came out on March 13, the Pioneers secured the fourteenth spot.
On March 11, the Pioneers won their third NEC Championship, topping the No. 3 Monmouth Hawks 58-48, sending them to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in six years. Sent down to Chapel Hill for the Des Moines regional, Sacred Heart fell to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 76-50.
Sacred Heart clinched the regular season NEC title after finishing the season with a 15-1 record against NEC opponents. The Pioneers won nine of the first ten games of the season en route to a 22-7 record heading into the NEC Tournament.
The Pioneers are the only NEC team to represent the conference in the top 25. No other NEC team received votes.
The Pioneers lose seniors Kris Iovino (Murrysville, Penn.), Alexis Campbell (Ashburn, Va.) and NEC Player of the Year Callan Taylor (Overland Park, Kan.) this season. Taylor finished the season nearly averaging a double-double with 16.3 points and 9.6 rebounds, leading the team in both categories. Campbell, who started the year on the bench recovering from an injury, was said to have been the difference maker in the NEC Tournament. Iovino closes out her final year in a Pioneer jersey with 19 game appearances, averaging 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.