Women's basketball earns Senior Day victory against Pace

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts - The American International College women's basketball team earned a Senior Day victory, upending Pace University 64-45 on Saturday, February 19 in Northeast-10 Conference play.

FAST FACTS:
Final Score: AIC 64, Pace 45
Records: The Yellow Jackets rise to 10-13 overall and 7-10 in NE10 play; the Setters drop to 19-6 with a 13-5 NE10 record
Location: Henry Butova Gymnasium, Springfield, Massachusetts

KEY STATS:
Pace:
Lauren Schetter: 16 points, eight rebounds
Tower Lorde: Six points, three rebounds

AIC:
Kyla Smith: 15 points, 6-of-11 shooting
Destine Perry: 14 points, seven rebounds, 6-of-12 shooting
Zoe Willis: 11 points, nine rebounds

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The first quarter saw the teams trade buckets early, with Kyla Smith and Destine Perry each hitting their first attempts of the game. Zoe Willis added two field goals in the frame, and neither side led by more than two until a three by Lauren Hackett made it 15-12 Pace at the 8:26 mark. However, Smith closed the frame with a triple of her own, sending the teams to the pause even at 15-15.
• Neither team scored on the first few opportunities of the second, but Smith and Charee Osborne countered the first point of the period a free throw by Lauren Schetter with back-to-back buckets to spark an AIC run. Julia Carbonell Munoz took a pass from Smith and nailed a three to extend the AIC lead to 22-16 at 3:58, and AIC's run lasted through the midpoint of the second before Mackenzie Koch sank a three to bring the score to 26-19 AIC.
• The Setters cut the AIC lead back to six, but in the waning moments of the half, Perry drove to the hoop and laid in the last bucket before the buzzer, giving her team a 32-24 halftime lead.
• The Yellow Jackets redoubled their efforts in the third and it paid off in a big way as the Setters did not score until the 6:56 mark of the quarter. Perry picked up where she left off, landing an and-one to start the 11-0 run. Pace did score the next five, but they could not slow AIC's attack, and a three by Smith to close out the quarter had the Yellow Jackets in the driver's seat with a 51-32 edge heading into the last ten minutes.
• Pace could not close the gap in the fourth, and AIC's lead grew to as large as 25 after a Willis free throw with 3:49 to play, and ultimately the Yellow Jackets secured the win, 64-45.

NOT JUST SHOOTERS, BUT MAKERS:

• AIC landed 46.4 percent of its field goal attempts, while holding the Setters to just 29.6 percent; the disparity was most noticeable in the third, where AIC shot 58.3 percent and Pace was just 18.8 percent.
• The 29.6 percent shooting rate is the lowest the Yellow Jackets have held an NE10 opponent to on the season; the only better defensive performance was against Mercy College on November 13.
• On the flip side, AIC's offensive success was its third-highest shooting percentage of the season, and the Yellow Jackets won each of those three games.

NEXT UP:

• AIC opens a home-and-home with The College of Saint Rose to close out the 2021-22 regular season.
• The teams play in Albany, New York on Monday, February 21 at 5:30 p.m., and then at the same time in Springfield the following day.