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Palo Alto, CA — Sacred Heart women's basketball made program — and school — history on Wednesday.
And in the process, the Pioneers also made Northeast Conference (NEC) history.
After a sluggish start, 16th-seeded Sacred Heart (19-13) turned on the jets and put together a dominant 30-minute stretch to take down Southern, also a No. 16 seed, by a 57-47 final inside Maples Pavilion in an NCAA Tournament First Four matchup.
It marked Sacred Heart's first-ever NCAA tournament victory across any sport in school history, and the first-ever postseason victory for an NEC women's basketball team.
Trailing by 10 points after just a few minutes of play, the Pioneers used a 23-point swing fueled by 61.5 percent shooting in the second quarter to take a 33-20 halftime lead that they would not relinquish.
Sacred Heart, which has won 17 of its past 21 and six-in-a-row, will face top-seeded Stanford on Friday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 pm (EST). The First Round game is set to air live on ESPN2.
"I'm so proud of how our team rallied and stayed together and took this opportunity for 40 minutes to play Sacred Heart basketball and give us an opportunity to make history," said 10th-year head coach Jessica Mannetti. "I think that's the biggest part that we are the most proud of, is we made history tonight for our program, in our conference, and we really were able to showcase what great basketball our team was able to play."
Ny'Ceara Pryor, the NEC Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, put on a show (again). The 5-foot-3 guard was one of three Pios to score in double figures, as she came two boards shy of her first career triple-double with 11 points, 10 dimes and eight rebounds.
"(Chloe Fleming) was a great defender," said Pryor after the game. "But for me, it was just do other things that my team needs. I got a lot of assists tonight. She played great defense. She face guarded me the whole time. Denied me the ball. It was a great game plan, but my team took it and they dealt with it. I just think that was a great game plan, but we just came out with the win."
Kelsey Wood joined Pryor with a double-double after registering 10 points and 11 boards, while Olivia Tucker scored a team-high 13 points for Sacred Heart.
Southern, which captured the SWAC championship, closes out its season with an 18-15 overall record. The Jaguars are now 0-6 in NCAA Tournament games.
The Jaguars came out of the gates hot, taking a quick 14-4 lead out of the opening tip.
But the Pioneers came storming back. Closing the gap down to four at the end of the first stanza, Sacred Heart continued its rally into the second quarter and pushed ahead by a 22-16 count on a commanding 18-2 run.
Sierra Johnson tied up the contest at 16-all with a jumper at the 7:32 mark of the second, before a Pryor layup and back-to-back Carly Stroemel jumpers made it a six-point Pioneers' lead with 4:32 left until halftime.
The Pioneers defense was suffocating, holding Southern without a field goal for more than eight minutes, dating back to the 1:31 mark of the first. Taylor Williams would end the drought for the Jaguars with with 3:06 remaining in the half on a jumper.
Leading 33-20 at the half, Sacred Heart pushed ahead by as many as 17 thanks to a Tucker jumper at the 7:40 mark of the third quarter.
Southern renewed its energy in the fourth quarter, though. Outscoring the Pioneers by a 15-9 margin, the Jaguars pulled within eight with 43 seconds left (55-47), but ran out of time in their comeback bid.
Two free throws by Tucker with 33.6 remaining would seal the win, and propel the Pioneers into the First Round of the NCAA Tournament with their first-ever postseason victory.
"We just made history, and we are not done with this story," added Pryor.