PLEASANTVILLE, NY – Pace’s basketball teams both defeated Southern Connecticut State University at home on Saturday afternoon, the women in a blowout, the men in heart-pounding, come from behind fashion.

The Setter women pulled off a dominant upset, 63-53, to split the season series with SCSU, and improve their record to 9-14 overall and 6-10 in conference play. The Owls fall to 13-8 and 8-7.

Freshman Ciara Collins sunk a three pointer three minutes into the game for a 7-6 Pace lead, which the Blue & Gold would never relinquish. Despite numerous Owl rallies, Pace consistently responded in kind, leading by as many as 19 points in the third quarter.

Arianna Stockinger was the star of the contest, with game highs of 15 points and 10 rebounds on 50% shooting from the field, including nailing both of her attempts from downtown. Her 10 boards were one shy of the sophomore’s career high, and her third double-double of the season is the most on the team.

Collins and sophomore Tower Lorde also scored in double figures for Pace, with 12 and 11 points respectively. The defense was even better than the offense, holding the Owls to an atrocious 17-of-55 shooting (30.9%), and causing 15 turnovers for 15 points.

The win ends a four-game losing streak with a full week off from competition before traveling to Massachusetts next Saturday to face Bentley (13-8, 10-5 NE10).

While the women’s game was pretty much over at halftime, the men went down to the very last minute, and required a big time comeback effort.

In an enthralling, back-and-forth meeting, the Pace men dropped the Owls, 78-73, for their second straight victory, to get back to .500 in conference games (8-8), and 16-8 overall.

The Powell twins seem to be taking turns dominating games, as Bryan was a beast on Wednesday at Saint Anselm (24 points, six rebounds, four assists), with Brandon equal to the task against SCSU on Saturday, scoring a career-high 26 points, gobbling up seven rebounds, dishing out three assists, and stealing two balls.

Three other Setters scored in double-figures: Bryan Powell (15 points on only eight shots), Lyron Bennett (14 points), and Marc Dadika (10 points on 8-of-10 at the charity stripe)

With 11:36 to go in the game, SCSU had a respectable 11-point lead, but Pace’s never say die attitude led to a 30-14 run the rest of the way, securing the victory with a Bryan Powell dunk in the waning seconds.

The Setters are now only one and a half games back of Franklin Pierce for the third and final seed to host a first-round NE10 Championships game. The two squads face off in the season-finale in Pleasantville on Feb. 21. Pace beat the Ravens on the road earlier this season in a two-point nail biter.