A season long trend served as the arrow in the Achilles’ heel for Pace in the first round of the Northeast-10 Conference tournament. On the year, the Setters did not win a single game that went to one overtime and could not pull out a win in extra time in the playoffs.
The Setters suffered a gut wrenching defeat at the hands of the Merrimack Warriors 75-70 in overtime. With the loss, the Setters 2012-2013 campaign came to an abrupt close.
The first half was completely dominated by Pace in virtually all aspects of the game. Pace cruised out to an early 12-5 run to open the game and rampaged to a 43-28 lead against the Warriors in the first frame of play.
The Setters were, in part, able to thrive so well against Merrimack because they continuously broke the press of the Warriors. With 13:02 left to go in the first half senior psychology major Allison Cleary connected on a jump shot as the Setters broke the full court press from Merrimack. Cleary finished with a total of nine points on 12 shots in 44 minutes of play at the game’s end.
Pace got 25 of their points from two players that continuously baffled Merrimack’s defense in the first 20 minutes of play. Sophomore special education major Margo Hackett put up 17 points in the first half and graduate political science major Brittany Shields added 12 points of her own and snatched two of her 13 rebounds in Pace’s early onslaught.
While the first half belonged to the Setters, it was the visiting team that benefited from switching sides. Ashley Weissmann came off the bench with eleven strong points and Shelby Secor added ten points of her own as Merrimack slowly but surely shrunk Pace’s lead.
The Warriors were able to dissect the Setters large lead thanks to a barrage of three point shots in the second 20 minutes of play. Merrimack shot 50 percent from beyond the three point line in the second half while Pace did not make a single shot from downtown after the first half of play.
As the three point shots began to fall for the Warriors, Pace struggled to put points of their own on the board. Hackett had four points in the second half, Shields added six of her own, and Cleary also only had four. Pace totaled just 22 points in the second half compared to the Warriors who put up 37.
As the game wore on, Merrimack methodically hit jump shot after jump shot to make it a four point game with 40 seconds left to play. Jaclyn Lyons hit a huge three point shot with 24 seconds left in the game to cut Pace’s lead 64-63.
After a free throw by freshman biology major Yuni Sher gave the Setters a 65-63 lead, the Warriors drove down the court and got a clutch jump shot from Chole Rothman with six seconds left to tie the game at 65. Hackett tried to rush the ball up court for an attempt at a final shot but the ball did not leave her hands in time.
In overtime, the Warriors snatched an early lead thanks to another jumper by Rothman, but the Setters season was not done yet. Hackett connected on a jump shot for the last of her 23 points to tie the game at 67 with 2:41 to go in overtime. Shields also added a layup and free throw less than a minute later for the last of her 21 points.
Yet the killer Warrior who struck the dagger in Pace’s season was Allison Wagner. Wagner hit a game-tying three point shot with 1:06 to go and took two key charges to quell Pace’s offense in the waning seconds of the game. Wagner finished with six points that were all accumulated in overtime.
The Setters season ended with the Warriors rushing the court in jubilation. Next season will be up in the air with three starters, including their best player Shields, expecting to graduate this summer.
Still thinking about next season could partially dull the pain of this defeat in a great game where somebody had to lose.