FAIRFIELD, Conn. – It was a complete 180 from one day to the next for the Sacred Heart University women's basketball team. After dropping Thursday's contest to Mount St. Mary's, the Pioneers played one of their most complete games Friday on their way to a 79-71 Northeast Conference victory.

Records:
Mount St. Mary's: 4-3, 3-1 NEC
Sacred Heart: 3-5, 3-3 NEC

Top Performers:
Nikki Johnson (SHU): 16 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists
Kelsey Wood (SHU): 14 points, 6 rebounds
Kendall Bresee (MSM): 20 points, 10 rebounds

Up Next:
Sacred Heart goes on the road next week to face St. Francis, Jan. 23-24.

Of Note:
Sacred Heart won the turnover battle, only committing 13 versus 20 on Thursday, while forcing the Mountaineers into 18. The Pioneers converted the MSM miscues into 16 points.

SHU was better at both ends of the floor behind the arc, hitting 6-of-15 (40%) while limiting MSM to 25 percent (4-of-16).

Kendall Bresee's layup midway through the first quarter put the Mountaineers up 10-2, but the Pioneers worked their way back into the game. Adrianne Hagood knocked down a three-pointer and Sonia Smith's free throw gave SHU a 16-15 advantage.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Nikki Johnson & Hagood grew the SHU lead to 26-19. With 2:27 left in the first half, Mount trimmed the lead to 37-34 on a Kayla Agentowicz jumper, but that would be the last points the Pioneers would give up in the first half. 

Four different Pios scored to give SHU a 46-36 halftime lead. The 46 points are the most Sacred Heart has scored in a half this year and the highest since SHU put up 52 in the first half against St. Francis Brooklyn on February 29, 2020.

Carly Stroemel's putback midway into the third quarter gave the Pioneers their biggest lead, 53-41. The visitors whittled the lead down to zero 59-59 just 75 seconds into the fourth quarter. Johnson scored seven of her season-high 16 points in 2:41 stretch to bump the lead back to 68-61.

Five different Pioneers scored in double figures, led by Johnson & Hagood with 16 each. Smith and Kelsey Wood each had 14 points off the bench – SHU's reserves outscored Mount's 31-10 – and Wood pulled in a team-best six rebounds.

Bresee led all scorers with a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double. Agentowicz chipped in 13 and Michaela Harrison added 10.