PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. The American International College women's basketball team dominated the second half in a Northeast-10 Conference road victory at Pace University Saturday afternoon at the Goldstein Fitness Center, 65-46.
With the win, AIC improves to 21-4 and 14-4 in NE-10 action, while with the loss Pace falls to 10-15 overall and 5-12 in league games.
The Yellow Jackets opened the game hot, scoring nine straight points to open an early 9-2 lead. The Setters settled down and chipped away at the lead, using their own 12-5 run to tie it at 14 apiece.
AIC senior Brianna Bishop (Suffield, Conn.) broke up the streaking Setters with her second three of the first. The veteran guard scored 10 in the first frame as her team shot 61.5 percent (8-13) in the first 10 minutes. Jacket freshman Dana Watts (Rochester, N.Y.) hit 3-4 free throws to end the quarter with a slim lead, 22-19.
AIC opened the second stanza on a 6-0 run powered by three straight steals from Bishop. The guard made a thievery and pushed the floor, dishing it to fellow senior Danielle Dorsett (-) for a spin-around layup to open the stretch. Bishop hit a pair of free throws on the ensuing steal after a hard foul driving to the hoop. On cue, the Yellow Jackets trapped the Setters at the time line allowing Bishop to come away with it. Her fast break lay-in attempt was off the mark, but freshman Jayda Gilmore (Elkridge, Md.) cleaned it up and put it back in to cap a 9-0 run spanning back into the first quarter.
The Jackets extended the run to as many as 11, but Pace found their feet helped by a few Yuni Sher buckets. AIC went into the break up, 36-29. Bishop had a solid half all-around, scoring 14, grabbing three boards and dishing out three helpers.
Out of the break, Pace's Gabrielle Rubin dropped a trey, sparking an 8-0 third quarter start for the Setters to take its first lead since the first bucket of the game.
In typical Kamika Mason (Long Beach, Calif.) fashion, the senior center was a force out the halftime talks. Mason scored the first 8-of-9 AIC points in the second half including her own 5-0 run. The spark created by Mason powered 10-5 run to end the quarter.
What happened in the fourth is yet another best for the Yellow Jackets. After allowing 19 first quarter points, the third best defense in Division II, tightened its handle, allowing Pace just two points in the final frame. Sparked by a Gilmore trey, the Yellow Jackets ended the game with the final 13 points over 7:49 of regulation.
Mason was perfect from the floor in the second half, going 5-5 from the field and 3-3 from the charity stripe while scoring 13. She finished with a game-high 17 points and a perfect 7-7 shooting. Bishop finished with 16 and six boards, while Watts chipped in 12 and also hauled in six rebounds. With her two trey's, Bishop moves into a tie with Kristin Boesenberg for 199 career three-pointers made.
The Yellow Jackets held the Setters to 32.0 percent from the floor (16-50) and 3-18 from beyond the arc.
The Yellow Jackets return to action Saturday, Feb. 20 when thye play host to the College of Saint Rose at the Butova Gymnasium. Prior to the 1:30 p.m. tip-off with the Golden Knights will be a brief celebration of the seniors playing in their last regular season home game.
