Pace Women’s Team Runs Past the Chargers in the Second Half
By Monica D’Ippolito-
After being knotted up at halftime on Friday afternoon, the Pace University women’s basketball team stepped up defensively. The Setters held Dominican College to its lowest point total for a half this season and secured their fourth straight victory.
“I think we did a nice job on defense today,” Pace junior forward Yuni Sher said after the team’s 61-43 home win at the Goldstein Fitness Center. “I think that says a lot about Coach’s plan for defense. I felt in the first half we were in and out of it, and in the second half we really executed it. I think the biggest key was execution in this game.”
Dominican (5-9) came out with a 2-2-1 full-court press, which stalled the Pace offense in the first half, but after reassessing their strategy at halftime, the Setters had no more issues beating the pressure, which allowed their offense to come alive over the final 20 minutes.
“Second half, we were attacking more aggressively against their full-court pressure and then it was leading to better passes,” Setters coach Carrie Seymour said. “We were getting off the dribble a little bit against the zone; it was opening up better shots than we got in the first half.”
Both teams shot poorly in the first 20 minutes, with the Setters hitting just 35.7 percent from the field and the Chargers sinking just 34.5 percent.
“The basic message at halftime was that we needed to pick up our energy,” Sher said. “Energy needed to be higher and we were playing kind of slow and that’s not our game.”
The message seemed to get through to the Setters, who were tied at 28-apiece with the Chargers at halftime. Sher scored on a layup 40 seconds into the second half and the Setters never lost the lead the rest of the way. A 3-pointer by new transfer Christina Rubin capped an 18-2 run that gave Pace a 53-36 advantage with 7:33 remaining.
Pace held Dominican to only 15 points in the second half, limiting the Chargers to just 28 percent shooting from the field. The Setters also forced 21 turnovers for the game, which converted into 22 points.
“It all started on defense,” Pace’s Gabriella Rubin said. “We started getting steals, we started moving the ball faster, we pushed it up the court and we scored. The momentum was there and our energy was high because we were getting steals.”
Sher led Pace with 16 points on 7-for-12 shooting and seven rebounds, while Margo Hackett finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.
“I think, going into every game, my biggest goal is to outrebound my opponent,” Sher said. “I was able to get my first few offensive rebounds. I kind of took advantage that they weren’t blocking me out so much, and I was able to finish today, which was nice.”
The Setters, now 7-6, defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 64-61 in overtime Sunday on the road to extend their winning streak to five games. Rubin finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Sher added 13 points and 11 boards, as Pace climbed above the .500 mark for the first time all season.
“Right now, we’re a lot better than we were in November,” said Seymour. “The goal is, every day, every practice, every game, you’ve got to be better than you were last week. I think if we keep moving in the right direction we’ll be a much different team come February.”
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