PACE LOSES A HEARTBREAKER AT THE BUZZER TO SAINT MICHAEL'S COLLEGE, 57-56

COLCHESTER, VT- The Pace University women's basketball team probably suffered their toughest loss of the season in their final NE-10 Conference game of the year on Monday night. The Setters lost to the Purple Knights of Saint Michael's College, 57-56, on a shot with no time remaining to send the Ross Sports Center crowd into a frenzy. This loss also takes away the Setters chance of a first round bye in the NE-10 Tournament.

The loss drops Pace to 16-10 on the season, and 13-9 in the Northeast-10 Conference. The win improves the Purple Knights to 14-12 on the year, and an even mark of 11-11 in conference play.

The Setters showed no signs of fatigue in this being their final game of a two game, three day, road trip as they got off to a great start. Pace got out to a quick 16-8 lead with 11:23 left in the first half. The Setters started out on fire from the field hitting six of their first 12 shots to help them take an eight point lead. After a three-pointer by Brittany Huggins (Windsor, CT/Windsor) (Windsor, CT/Windsor) the Setters stretched their lead up to nine with 7:49 left in the first half. Saint Michael's went on to outscore Pace 11-7 going into the half to cut Pace's lead down to 28-23 heading into the locker rooms. Pace shot 35 percent from the field in the first half, and the Purple Knights shot 25 percent.

Pace continued to hold a comfortable lead after a jumper by Lisa Welsome (Staten Island, NY/St. Peter's) (Staten Island, NY/Saint Peters) made the score 36-30 with 16:37 left in the game. The two teams would go back and forth over the next 12 minutes with no team being able to pull away. After a Huggins layup with 1:20 left in the game Pace was still holding on to a four point lead at 51-47. After the two teams exchanged two free-throws each the score was now 53-49 with 26 seconds left. The two teams went on to trade scores again with a Saint Michael's basket, and two more Pace free-throws, to make the score 55-51 with 16 seconds left in the game. Saint Michael's then went on to hit a three with seven seconds left to cut the Setters lead down to one. Huggins made the second of two free-throws to push Pace's lead to two with four seconds left. Saint Michael's then threw the ball in to half court, and then passed it to Caitlin Quinn with one second left. Quinn put up a three-pointer and banked it home with the buzzer going off to give the Purple Knights a one point victory.

Pace finished the game shooting 36 percent from the field, while Saint Michael's shot 35 percent. Saint Michael's outrebounded Pace in the game 44-38. The key stat in the game was second chance points as Saint Michael's dominated this category outscoring Pace 14-7.

Pace was led by Shiesha McCollum (Newburgh, NY/Washingtonville) (Newburgh, NY/Washingtonville) who had a team-high 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, and a team-high nine rebounds. The Setters also got a good game from Brittany Shields (Cold Springs, NY/Haldane) who finished with 10 points, and six rebounds.

Pace has one more game remaining on its schedule a makeup non-conference matchup at Bloomfield College. The game will be played on Thursday, February 26 at 7:00 p.m.