SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Freshman Dana Watts (Rochester, N.Y.) scored 11 points with 6 boards and a trio of steals off the bench to help lead American International College past Pace, 62-45, in Northeast-10 women's basketball action this evening from the Butova Gymnasium.

The Yellow Jackets remain unbeaten at 5-0 and 4-0 in the conference while the Setters fall to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the NE-10.

AIC used swarming defense all evening to help set the pace as they generated 16 steals to cause 23 turnovers and turned those into 22 points.

Watts joined seniors Brianna Bishop (Suffield, Conn.) and Kamika Mason (Long Beach, Calif.) for the team lead in points while senior Sydney Tepley (Racine, Wis.) grabbed a team-best nine rebounds to help the hosts out rebound the visitors 40-30 for the game.

Freshman Alexandra Monteleone (Cold Spring, N.Y.) turned in a game-high 17 points to lead Pace offensively.

Pace opened the scoring in the game, but AIC took over from their going on a 7-0 run ignited by a Bishop trey for the 7-2 lead at the 6:17 mark of the first quarter.

However, the Setters answered to match the spurt with one of their own over the ensuing two minutes to retake the 9-7 edge. Monteleone had five points over that span for the visitors.

It was then the Jackets' turn to come right back as they finished the quarter on a 9-0 run and opened the second with a bucket for an 11-point outburst and the 18-9 lead. Five different players scored the buckets for AIC in that time.

The Yellow Jackets then closed the half on 16-5 run to grab their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at 39-22. AIC used seven steals to cause 12 turnovers and score 14 points while the bench chipped in for 17 points in the half. Freshman Alyssa Guyon (Ludlow, Mass.) registered all seven of her first-half points over that span.

Pace used a strong third quarter by Monteleone and sophomore Gabriella Rubin (Staten Island, N.Y.) to cut the deficit to just 10 at 51-41 as they each chipped in with seven points as the Setter outscored AIC 19-12 in the stanza.

However, AIC controlled the final quarter only allowing the Setters four points including using a 10-2 run to grab their largest lead of the game of 18 points, 61-43, with 1:47 to play as they dribbled out the clock the rest of the way.

The Yellow Jackets shot 23-for-66 (28.1%) while Pace shot 19-for-50 (38%) for the game.

American international returns to action on Saturday with a non-conference tilt at No. 15 Queens College at 3:30 p.m.