PACE'S SEASON ENDS AFTER LOSING NE-10 QUARTERFINAL MATCHUP TO AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE, 60-41
SPRINGFIELD, MA- The #5 seeded Pace University women's basketball team lost a tough quarterfinal matchup in the NE-10 Tournament to the #4 seeded American International College Yellow Jackets 60-41 on Tuesday night at the Butova Gym.
The loss ends Pace's season with an overall record of 18-11, while the win moves the Yellow Jackets record to 20-11 overall, and earns them a trip to the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament semifinals to play Franklin Pierce College.
Both teams had trouble controlling their nerves to start this quarterfinal game, and it showed on the offensive end of the floor. With six minutes already passing in the first half the two teams combined for only 14 total points as no team could find any rhythm offensively. The two teams continued to stay close midway through the first half as no team could get any separation from each other with the score being tied at 13-13, with 9:09 left in the first half. This is where American International made their run to take over the game as they put together a 16-2 run over the last nine minutes of the half. Pace struggled taking care of the ball during this Yellow Jacket run committing seven turnovers which led to several easy buckets for American International. The Yellow Jackets would go into the half leading 29-15. Pace only shot 23 percent from the field in the first half, while American International shot 33 percent. The biggest story of the first half was how the Yellow Jackets were able to contain Pace's leading scorer Brittany Shields (Cold Spring, NY/Haldane). They constantly brought double teams at her, and held her to only five points on 2-of-6 shooting.
American International continued to control the game heading towards the mid-way point of the second half as they still held a comfortable 15 point lead at 42-27. This is the point in the game where Pace finally looked like they would find their rhythm, and get back into this game. The Setters put together an 8-2 run over the next three minutes to cut the lead down to nine at 44-35, with 7:14 left in the game. The run was started, and finished, by two Taylor Losey (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern) three-pointers as she was on fire in the second half. Unfortunately, for Pace, Losey's efforts weren't enough as this would be the closest the Setters would get for the rest of the game. The Yellow Jackets went on to score 13 straight unanswered points over the next four minutes to push their lead back up to 22, with 3:04 left in the game. Pace just couldn't find any consistent offense all night, and it would cost them their season as they would eventually lose by 19.
Pace finished the game shooting 34 percent from the field, while the Yellow Jackets shot 37 percent. There were two key stats in the game that really came back to hurt Pace, and they were free-throws and points off turnovers. American International went 18-of-24 (75%) from the line, while Pace was only 5-of-8 (63%). Pace also lost the battle in the points off turnovers category with the Yellow Jackets outscoring them 17-4 for the game.
Pace was led by Losey who finished with a team-high 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, and two assists. The Setters also got a solid game from Laura Mooney (Staten Island, NY/Saint John Villa) as she had eight points, four rebounds and two steals.
