Sacred Heart University Women's Basketball

The second longest tenured head coach and eight wins shy of becoming the second coach in program history to hit 200 career victories, Jessica Mannetti enters her 14th season at the helm of the Sacred Heart University women’s basketball team in 2026-27. Under Mannetti’s leadership. Sacred Heart is one of the top programs in the Northeast with five postseason appearances, including back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and the programs first ever win in the NCAA Tournament over Southern University in 2023. Overall, Mannetti holds a 192-195 (.496) career record having qualified for postseason conference tournaments in all but two seasons with a pair of NEC Regular Season Championships and a pair of NEC Tournament Championships to her credit. Individually, Mannetti cultivated one of the most decorated players in program history, Ny’Ceara Pryor who became the first player in program history to make an appearance in a WNBA game with the New York Liberty. A two-time player of the year and two-time defensive player of the year, Pryor closed out her career at SHU third all-time in scoring (1,790) and second all-time in steals (257). The Baltimore, Md. native led all Division I women’s basketball players in steals per game as a freshman and junior and was the first rookie in NEC history to win Player, Defensive Player and Rookie of the Year accolades in the same season. She also became just the fifth player in league history to repeat at Player of the Year. Throughout her tenure, Ma

Joining head coach Jessica Mannetti’s staff prior to the 2024-25 campaign, Dunbar enters her third season on the sidelines as an assistant coach for the Sacred Heart University women’s basketball team in 2026-27. Dunbar comes to SHU after spending the last three seasons at Lafayette College as the team's Assistant Coach: Recruiting Coordinator. In her time with the Leopards, she helped guide two players to All-Patriot League recognition and one to All-Defensive Team honors. Lafayette made the Patriot League Tournament all three seasons of her tenure. Before Lafayette, Dunbar had professional stops at Monmouth, Saint Francis, Yale, Wesleyan and Southern Connecticut State. At Yale, she was a part of the 2017-18 team that won a program-record 19 games and won the Women's Basketball Invitational tournament, becoming the first Ivy League team to win a national postseason tournament. Dunbar also served as the Director of Operations for the Northwestern women's basketball program, which appeared in the 2019 Women's National Invitational Tournament championship game. Dunbar graduated from Quinnipiac with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology in 2012 and received her Master's in Liberal Studies, with a focus in Social Sciences, from Wesleyan in 2015.

Joining head coach Jessica Mannetti’s staff prior to the 2024-25 campaign, Peel enters her third season on the sidelines as an assistant coach for the Sacred Heart University women’s basketball team in 2026-27. Peel comes to Fairfield after spending the last two seasons as an assistant coach at American International College. In 2023-24, she helped lead the Yellow Jackets to one of their best seasons in recent memory, as the team won its first NE10 Tournament game since 2019 and it tallied its longest win streak since 2015. Peel’s recruits at AIC have earned All-America, All-Region and All-Conference recognition during her tenure. Prior to her coaching stint at AIC, Peel was an assistant coach at UMass Boston. In one season with the Beacons, she had a player named First Team All-Little East. A graduate of Saint Anselm College, Peel enjoyed a successful playing career with the Hawks, helping the 2018-19 squad make the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. The Mansfield, Mass., native appeared in 50 games with the Hawks and graduated of Saint Anselm with a business degree in May of 2021.

Joining head coach Jessica Mannetti’s staff in the summer of 2023, Marc Taney comes to Sacred Heart with vast experience in collegiate athletics and coaching, most recently served as the Interim Director of Athletics and Director of Student Involvement and Commuter Engagement at Emmanuel College in Boston. In the coaching ranks, Taney was the Women’s Basketball Head Coach and Director of Basketball Operations at Newbury College for three years. In addition to overseeing both the Nighthawks’ women’s and men’s basketball operation efforts, he recruited for the women’s team, and coached both the 2017-18 NECC Player and Rookie of the Year. In recognition of his outstanding season, Taney was named the 2017-18 NECC Coach of the Year. Taney also made assistant coaching stops at Springfield College and Keene State College. Outside the collegiate ranks, Taney is the co-founder and director of the Nike/US Sports Camp, THE Basketball Camp of Connecticut for girls, hosted annually at the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Conn. Taney completed a master’s in Sport Management from Springfield College in 2016. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from nearby Western Connecticut State University in 2014.

Nola Carter joined head coach Jessica Mannetti’s staff prior to the 2025-26 season as the director of Basketball Operations for the Sacred Heart women’s bask...