Hackett and Oskam Lead the Setters Past Georgian Court
vs. Georgian Court.
It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster ride for the Pace University women’s basketball team this season, so head coach Carrie Seymour has to be hoping last Wednesday night’s nonconference victory over Georgian Court was a hint that her Setters were about to start rising again.
“We’ve been so up and down,” she admitted after the 83-63 home win, “that just trying to get in the habit of winning, putting together two good games in a row, was big for us.”
Seniors Margo Hackett and Jaclyn Oskam combined for 37 points, while sophomore center Kirsten Dodge grabbed 13 rebounds in just 15 minutes, as the Setters cruised past the Lions to even their record at 11-11 and gain some momentum for a late-season playoff push.
“I think we were a little flat in the first half, and that happens sometimes,” said Seymour. “We picked it up in the second half. The second half, we really stressed that we haven’t been moving the last couple of games. We just kind of stand around in a box and move the ball and don’t move any bodies. That’s a hard way to shoot the ball. The second half was much better movement. We were more inside-out, we were getting shots off of cuts, off of screens. It’s much easier, it’s in a better rhythm.”
The Setters wound up making seven of the 10 shots they took from beyond the 3-point arc in the second half as they gradually stretched a nine-point halftime lead to 25 with 5:45 left in the game. Georgian Court, winners of just two games so far, held its only lead of the evening on a Morgan Peacock jumper 30 seconds into the contest. But a 3-pointer by Geena Rosalbo 15 seconds later gave Pace a lead it never lost the rest of the way.
Despite making only 14 of their 39 shots from the field in the opening half, the Setters still led 38-29 at intermission. Hackett, who led Pace with 19 points, connected on a pair of 3-pointers early in the second half to help build the Setters’ lead to 48-34. A layup by the Lions’ Tahira Matthews, who finished with 32 points and 17 rebounds, cut the Pace lead to 50-38 with 16:30 to go, but Georgian Court never got any closer.
After the basket by Matthews, Pace answered with a 3-pointer by Gabby Rubin, who wound up with 13 points and four steals. Yuni Sher followed with a fast-break layup and, after two free throws by the Lions’ Justine Doran, Alexa Dietrich went coast to coast for a bucket and Rubin added a 3-pointer from the top of the key, increasing the Setters’ lead to 20 points just over five minutes into the second half.
Any chance of a Georgian Court comeback disappeared when Oskam made a pair of 3-pointers during an 8-2 Setter run in 90 seconds that swelled their advantage to 77-52. For at least one evening, Seymour and her coaching staff could look on from the bench with little to worry about.
“I feel like, with this year’s team, people sometimes try to overcomplicate what we’re asking them to do,” said Seymour. “There’s been some games where we have to constantly correct them. I don’t think anyone is trying to go off the page on their own, but we just overcomplicate things at times.”
Of course, if the Setters don’t wind up winning the majority of their six NE-10 Conference games remaining in the regular season, a berth in the playoffs would become complicated. They closed the week by falling 54-48 Saturday to host American International, the team they need to leapfrog in the standings.
“You can’t do anything about how balanced our side of the conference is,” said Seymour. “We’re just gonna try to get as many (wins) as we can and see what happens. The goal this year was to finish better than .500 and that’s still the goal.”
Andy is a sports editor at Examiner Media, covering seven high schools in the mid-Westchester region with a notebook and camera. He began there in the fall of 2007 following 15 years as a candid photographer for the largest school picture company in the tri-state area.
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