PACE GETS BACK ON TRACK BY DOWNING MERRIMACK COLLEGE 70-52

NORTH ANDOVER, MA- The Pace University women's basketball team dominated the Warriors from start to finish in a key 70-52 Northeast-10 victory for the Setters on a Sunday afternoon at the Volpe Gymnasium.

The win improves the Setters to 11-6 overall and 8-5 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The loss will drop Merrimack to 5-13 overall and 4-9 in conference play. Pace is now 2-5 on the road this season.

Pace got off to a good start as they took control of the game early taking a 19-9 lead with 9:07 left in the first half. The Setters proceeded to clamp down on defense over the next seven minutes forcing the Warriors into multiple poor offensive possessions. The Setters excellent defense led to a 17-8 run by Pace to push the lead up to 19 at 36-17, with 2:05 left in the half. The Setters went into the locker room with a 14 point lead at 36-22. Pace's success in the first half was also attributed to the excellent play of Brittany Shields (Cold Spring, NY/Haldane) as the Warriors had no answer for her in the paint. Shields had 11 points in the first half on 5-of-8 shooting. Pace finished the first half shooting 50 percent, while Merrimack shot only 27 percent from the field in the first half. A key stat that helped Pace open up a big lead on the Warriors was points in the paint. Pace outscored Merrimack in the paint 18-6 in the first half.

Pace continued to dominate in the second half as they pushed their lead all the way up to 22 points at 52-30, with 10:04 left in the game. Taylor Losey (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern) (Bristol, CT/Bristol Eastern) was the story in the second half as her hot shooting helped Pace pull away from Merrimack down the stretch. Losey caught fire in the second half scoring 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field, and 3-of-4 from three-point land. Pace as a team shot a blistering 54 percent from the field in the second half. Merrimack never threatened as they couldn't get any closer than 11 in the second half, and wound up losing by 18.

Pace was led by Losey who finished with a team-high 16 points, five rebounds and three assists. The Setters also got a gutsy performance from Kristin Connolly (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) (Staten Island, NY/Saint Peter's) who scored nine points, grabbed a team-high nine rebounds and dished out four assists. Brittany Huggins (Windsor, CT/Windsor) (Windosr, CT/Windsor) also had a perfect game shooting the ball as she finished 5-of-5 from the field with 12 points.   

Pace will be back in action on Wednesday, January 28 as they return home to take on Southern Connecticut State University. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.