Pace Women’s Team Defeats Queens College in Overtime
over visiting Queens College.
By Monica D’Ippolito
After seven lead changes, a missed free throw and a last-second buzzer-beater, the 21st matchup between Pace University and Queens College headed into overtime Sunday afternoon.
The Setters, who began the day with a 1-4 record, had already lost a pair of games by five points or less and their most recent one by just seven. With the pressure clearly on inside the Goldstein Fitness Center, the Setters found a way to beat the Knights for the 18th time and come away with a much-needed victory.
“We lost (two) games that were decided in the last couple possessions and we just didn’t fight through them,” Setters coach Carrie Seymour said after her team’s 64-61 win. “Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction. We just have to put ourselves in position that in the end of the game we have a chance to win it.”
With 14 seconds until the end of regulation, Pace’s Gabriella Rubin knocked down a corner 3-pointer that gave her team a 55-52 lead. After a Queens timeout, the Knights inbounded the ball to Imani Davidson, who drove through the lane and hit a floater that cut the Setter lead to a point.
The Knights then intentionally fouled Rubin, sending the freshman to the foul line. Rubin made the first free throw, but missed the second, giving Queens life with less than five seconds left. Madison Rowland squeezed the defensive rebound and pushed the ball up the floor to Davidson, who again drove the lane and hit another floater as time expired, tying the game 56-56.
“I was pissed,” Rubin said after the game. “I missed that foul shot and my man scored. I’m a very competitive person and I really wanted to win, but now we had another five minutes left (and my teammates said) ‘this game’s still on the line.’ So if it wasn’t for (my teammates) picking me up, I don’t know, they kept me up in the overtime.”
But the extra five minutes just may have been the best played by the Setters so far this season. Rachel Dortch made a jump shot 35 seconds in and Pace never surrendered the lead, making sure to work the ball inside to 6-foot-5 sophomore Kirsten Dodge, who had six points, three rebounds and one steal in the overtime period.
“I just knew that I was letting my team down,” said Dodge. “They needed me to perform to the best of my ability. In the first half, I wasn’t performing to my ability and I just had to turn it around because of those last five minutes I had, and I needed to change it.”
Dodge finished the game as the Setters’ second-leading scorer, hitting five of 12 shots and winding up with 14 points, to go along with nine rebounds. All her damage came after halftime.
“Kirsten has improved so much since last season, her confidence doesn’t match her improvement,” Seymour said of Dodge. “She’s legit 6-5 and she can control the paint on both ends of the floor. It’s just she has to start expecting bigger things for herself. The second half was totally different and the overtime was totally different.”
Rubin led the Pace offense with 18 points on five-for-14 shooting from the floor and four-for-10 from 3-point range. She also collected five rebounds and dished out six assists.
“Gabby’s exciting, she plays with a lot of energy,” said Seymour. “Her strength is she plays so loose, (but that) can also be her weakness because she plays so loose. Every day she’s learning a little bit more. It’s trying to get her to be a little bit more disciplined.”
After being down 26-22 at halftime, Pace picked up its work on the glass, which drove the impressive second half and overtime performance. In the first half, the Setters were outrebounded 25-18, allowing the Knights 10 offensive boards that equated to 10 second-chance points. But during a timeout at the start of the second half, Seymour was adamant about getting more aggressive on the boards.
“Sometimes I don’t know why we sit there and watch the rebounds come off the rim instead of going to get them,” she said. “It has been a way we’ve lost games.”
The Setters, who wound up outrebounding Queens 42-40, are back to conference competition on Wednesday night when they travel to Garden City and take on Adelphi before hosting Le Moyne on Saturday afternoon.
“We just need to let this (win) give us some confidence,” Dodge said. “And when it comes to Wednesday, we need to come out with that intensity in the beginning of the game and for all 40 minutes.”
Examiner Media – Keeping you informed with professionally-reported local news, features, and sports coverage.
