Pace Women's Basketball Bests New Haven

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WEST HAVEN, Conn.- Jessica Scannell (Cork, Ireland/St. Vincent's) connected on a three-pointer in the final minute of play as the Pace women's basketball completed a thrilling comeback to defeat the Chargers of the University of New Haven 68-64 in Northeast-10 Conference action. The Setters improve to 7-4 overall and 5-2 in the NE-10, moving into a tie for fourth place in the conference, while the Chargers drop to 6-5 overall and 5-2 in conference play.

The teams traded leads throughout most of the opening half with the Chargers pulling ahead by seven points at 27-20 with 3:55 to play in the half. The Setters closed the gap in the final minutes but trailed at halftime by three points at 29-26.

The Setters came out strong to start the second half as Allison Cleary (New Windsor, NY/Cornwall Central) knotted the game at 29 with a trifecta in the opening seconds of the second half. Pace pulled ahead by four points at 42-38 on a Scannell jumper with 15:51 remaining in the game. The Chargers used a 17-3 run over a 4:19 stretch to take their largest lead of the contest at 55-45 with 10:39 to play in the game.

Pace rallied back as they sliced the score down to three points at 62-59 with 4:26 to play in the game. New Haven answered with a bucket on their next possession to push their lead back to five points but it proved to be their final points of the game. The Setters rallied with a 9-0 run to close out the contest as Scannell and Brittany Shields (Cold Spring NY/Haldane) both went 2-for-2 from the foul line to pull Pace to within a point with 1:24 left in the game.

Scannell put the Setters in front for good as she connected on a triple with 41 seconds on the clock to give Pace a 66-64 lead. After a New Haven miss, Yuni Sher (Poughkeepsie, NY/Long Island Lutheran) hit 1-for-2 at the line to put the Setters in front by three points. The Chargers had one final shot but following a timeout, they were called for a five-second inbound violation with seven seconds on the clock. Shields iced the game as she went 1-for-2 at the line with 6.4 seconds to provide the Setters with a four-point lead as they completed the comeback victory. The Chargers went 0-for-7 from the field in the final four minutes with two turnovers, including the inbound violation with 7.0 seconds to play.

The Setters were led by Shields who recorded her fourth double-double of the season as she recorded game-highs of 16 points and 10 rebounds. Scannell had a solid all-around game with 12 points, three rebounds, four assists and three steals. Margo Hackett (Pawling, NY/Pawling)added 11 points, while Cleary finished with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.

The Setters return home their next contest as they will host the Purple Knights of Saint Michael's College on Wednesday, January 9 at 5:30 pm in an NE-10 match-up.