Sacred Heart, Merrimack both ready for MAAC play

Sacred Heart had one of those nights Thursday, Dec. 5. The Pioneers were at home against Morgan State, and the Pitt Center was deafening.

“This is the hardest gym to play in,” Sacred Heart head coach Jessica Mannetti said on Dec. 5. “I always say it’s a 10-point advantage for us when we step on the floor.”

The student section was filled with Sacred Heart’s rowdy softball and rowing teams, who were the finalists for the Pioneer Palooza, an athletics fundraising contest. Softball was in gray and red numbered basketball jerseys and rowing was in red t-shirts that read “Pioneers Rowing” in bold, block letters. At every timeout, both teams would dance their shoes off to a myriad of songs playing over the deafeningly loud speakers of the Pitt Center, often dancing against each other.

The arena was filled with that frenzied energy that only comes when you’re fully letting loose with people you trust. That translated to the court, where when right, Sacred Heart played quickly, in-transition and through junior guard Ny’Ceara Pryor in its 79-57 win over Morgan State. Pryor led the team with 24 points, was tied for second with seven rebounds and was second with five assists.

“I got to keep my foot on the gas,” Pryor said postgame. “I know everybody’s game plan is to stop Ny’ … I’m just trying to help my team win.”

Think of this game like a boxing match. Sacred Heart unleashed a seven-punch combination in the beginning of the third quarter to end this fight.

Sophomore center Emma Kirby started with a jumper, the jab, then Pryor hit two free throws, the cross. The Pioneers led 44-32. Senior guard Carmen Williams scored a transition layup, right hook. Morgan State felt uneasy; it called a timeout. Out of the timeout, Kirby had another layup, a body shot. Kirby scored again in the paint, another jab. The Bears were stumbling. Junior guard Ja’la Bannerman responded with a 3, a futile punch. Junior guards Amelia Wood and Sierra Johnson each buried a three. Cross, hook, it was over. The Bears were on the canvas, and Sacred Heart was up by 21.

The Bears didn’t regain the lead and suffered its third-worst loss of the season.

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The Pioneers are on the cusp of their first season in the MAAC, and when playing well, can compete with and beat the best in the conference. But, Mannetti and the rest of the squad knows that the adjustment won’t be easy. There are nights where Sacred Heart can knock a team out cold like it did against Morgan State, but there are other nights where it will falter. Either way, the Pioneers are ready.

“For us, [the team’s] like, ‘Hey, another opportunity to win a conference championship,’” Mannetti said.

Sacred Heart was the NEC regular season and postseason champions last season and was a win at Presbyterian away from making its fourth appearance in the bracket. Pryor was the unanimous NEC Player of the Year and Wood was All-NEC Third Team.

The Pioneers dominated the NEC last season, going undefeated in conference play, but this year, the MAAC has a stronger strength of schedule and stronger offenses than the NEC. The three highest-scoring MAAC offenses last season — Fairfield, Niagara and Siena — all averaged more points per game than Sacred Heart, which led the conference averaging 65.9 points per game.

In this year’s NET rankings — which measure how good a team is based on its opponents, efficiency and schedule — all 13 MAAC team’s average NET rank is at 242.9 and the nine NEC teams are at 325.

Specifically, Fairfield and Quinnipiac’s NET rankings are right outside the top 50 at 52 and 57, respectively.

Playing against tougher teams, Sacred Heart will face offenses faster than its own, wingers that shoot 3s like an expert skeet shooter and complex coverages to mitigate its own offense.

But the MAAC also isn’t completely foreign to the Pioneers. Over the past six seasons, Sacred Heart has played 27 games against current MAAC teams, albeit the majority were against former NEC sides Merrimack and Mount St. Mary’s. In those games, it has gone 12-15.

Last season, the Pioneers took the conference champions, Fairfield, to overtime but lost 66-61. Sacred Heart molded this season’s non-conference schedule to expose itself to different strengths of MAAC teams.

How Sacred Heart will do the rest of this year depends on what team shows up that day. Yes, it’s cliché, but if it’s the high-energy, fast, 3-point flinging team that it has been in its wins, (and especially in the third quarter against Morgan State) the Pioneers will compete, but if they’re the team that’s had slow starts and struggles from beyond the arc, they’ll lose.

Sacred Heart’s first MAAC game is Dec. 19 at Iona. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m.

A gritty night in New Haven

It wasn’t one of those nights in New Haven on Nov. 19. In a Tuesday evening contest between Merrimack and Yale, neither team dominated nor looked poised to dominate. The Warriors didn’t make a 3-pointer on 12 attempts, and the Bulldogs turned the rock over 26 times.

The game ended with the Warriors just edging out the now 1-11 Bulldogs 50-45, however Yale led at the end of the first half and end of the third quarter.

What was the difference for Merrimack? Grit.

“We love each other, and we have a fight to the very end for each other,” sophomore forward Madison Roman said. “If we’re going for something, we know that somebody’s right there with us.”

Yale senior guard Mackenzie Egger tallied a 16-point, 20-rebound double-double but that didn’t matter for the Warriors. Roman and guard Thalia Shepard led the way with 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Down the stretch, Roman hit the game-winning bucket: a layup in the paint. Merrimack beat Yale in the paint, outscoring the Bulldogs 22-18.

But where the Warriors dominated was getting to the free-throw line. Merrimack got to the charity stripe 25 times, and made 20 of those compared to Yale’s 10-of-14.

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It was an ugly performance for the Warriors, but they found a way to win. That’s where Merrimack found success and can find success in MAAC play, fighting its way to wins. If it can’t make 3s, get to the free-throw line, if it’s not shooting well, shut down the opposition on defense.

“There was some maturity by everybody that touched the floor for us, to stick through what felt like wasn’t us and finish out four quarters,” Merrimack head coach Kelly Morrone said.

The Warriors will rely on Roman, Sheppard, sophomore guard Paloma Garcia and freshman guard Mia Fiore. Garcia leads Merrimack with 11.6 points per game, and Roman leads with 6.1 boards per game. The Warriors are young and hungry.

However, going into MAAC play, Merrimack (227 in NET) lost three-straight games by double digits, albeit against three teams that are at least 80 places above them in the latest NET rankings in USF (84), UAlbany (102) and Providence (143).

Much of what’s written above about Sacred Heart’s adjustment applies the same to Merrimack. It will play tougher teams and have to adjust every night.

But that doesn’t matter now for the Warriors, their conference record is 0-0. Merrimack starts its campaign at home against Canisius on Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.