Pleasantville, N.Y. – The Le Moyne College women's basketball team (14-5, 9-4 NE10) defeated the Pace University Setters (8-12, 5-8 NE10) by a score of 53-43 inside the Ann and Alfred Goldstein Health, Fitness & Recreation Center on Tuesday night.

The Setters, who are coming off a 2021-22 season during which they claimed the East Regional Championship and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight, previously registered a 58-54 win over the Dolphins in Syracuse on January 7. Pace outscored Le Moyne 17-10 during the fourth quarter to claim their sixth straight win at the time.

Following the loss to Pace earlier this month, Le Moyne claimed a 67-49 win over Southern New Hampshire, who received votes in both the most recent D2SIDA and WBCA Coaches national top 25 polls, then bested Southern Connecticut State on the road before taking down Bentley at home on January 21. The three wins bumped them up to No. 4 in the most recent D2SIDA East Region rankings. The win over Pace on Tuesday is the fourth conference victory in a row for the Dolphins, which improves their NE10 resume to 9-4.

Le Moyne held the Bentley University Falcons to just 38 points on Saturday, which is the least amount of points that Le Moyne has allowed in a single game this season. The 43 points that Le Moyne held Pace to on Tuesday is now the second least amount of points that the Dolphins have allowed in a game so far this season.

Freshman guard Kaia Goode (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) led all scorers with a season-high 17 points, including 12 first-half points that allowed the Dolphins to take a 24-23 lead after 20 minutes of action.

Senior guard Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) was one point shy of recording her 13^th double-double of the season, finishing the NE10 battle with nine points and 10 rebounds. Baker has pulled down at least 10 rebounds in all but two of Le Moyne's games so far this season.

Redshirt-freshman guard Sydney Lusher (Oneida, N.Y./Oneida) scored in double figures for the 12^th time this season, tallying 11 points, five rebounds, one block and one steal against the Setters, while redshirt-sophomore forward Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) provided nine rebounds, seven points and two blocks.

Goode, Baker and sophomore guard Emily Florvil (Brooklyn, N.Y./Nazareth) each recorded two steals for the Dolphins. Florvil also added two offensive rebounds, while senior guard Lexi Gruss (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton) contributed two assists and a steal. Goode recorded a team-high three assists.

Le Moyne shot 13-16 from the free-throw line on Tuesday. Goode herself went 7-9 from the line while Pace shot 2-4 as a team from the free-throw line.

The Dolphins have been very good at defending without fouling, as they have not allowed an opponent to shoot more than nine free throws in each of their last 10 games.

Evidence that the team is putting pressure on opposing defenses, Le Moyne has shot at least 10 free throws in each of their last nine games.

The Dolphins scored 19 points in the third quarter, and held Pace to eight points in the final period to claim a 10-point win.

Graduate guard Lauren Hackett led the Setters in scoring with 10 points, while sophomore forward/center Tower Lorde recorded a game-high 13 rebounds, seven points and two steals,

Next up, the Dolphins will travel to Albany to take on the Saint Rose Golden Knights (9-8, 6-6 NE10) on Saturday, January 28 at 1:30 p.m. The two teams met earlier this season in Syracuse on November 19, and Le Moyne claimed a 75-70 win over the Golden Knights.

Quotes from Coach Grimes on the win over Pace:
"This is just a very tough, tough place to play. I mean, (Pace is) a tough team to play against because they defend so well. It's loud, the environment is unbelievable in here, so I'm happy that we were able to keep our composure…I'm proud of our team for just staying the course and getting the win,"

On only allowing 20 second-half points - "We just talked about being aware of where Lorde was inside, and trying to get Haedyn matched with her as much as possible. That gave Lytoya some freedom to move around a little bit… Going into the fourth we really were trying to not let them get the ball at the high post, because they were kicking it out for threes, so we tried to keep the ball out of the middle…. I think Kaia did a really good job just attacking the paint and getting to the free throw line."

From Kaia Goode: "We came in here thinking we wanted to win this game, we want to get them back for the first game [on January 7]. We wanted to stay composed, we wanted to come out harder than before and just play a better game than them."
 
Game Details:

Following a Tower Lorde basket from the right block with 8:22 left in the first quarter, Le Moyne quickly brought the ball up the floor, Goode drove to her right then kicked the ball out to Sierra Linnin (Valley Cottage, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) on the right wing. Linnin let go of a high-arcing three-point field goal that hit nothing but net to make it 5-2 in favor of the Dolphins.

Ciara Collins and Arianna Stockinger made back-to-back jumpers for the Setters, then Baker drove to the basket, crossed over to her left, got fouled shooting her running layup, and made one of two free throws at the line to tie the game at 6-6.

With 3:38 left in the first quarter, Baker closed out a shooter on the right wing, leaving Lorde wide open on the right block. Lusher came over from the weak side, got in front of Lorde following the entry pass and came up with a great block on the Pace forward. Lorde got the rebound, and Baker recovered to stop the basket, but the referee called a foul.

Mackenzie Koch made a three-point field goal with 2:34 left in the opening quarter, then Shanice Sinclair drained a pullup jumper to extend Pace's lead to 12-8

At the 1:28 mark of the first frame, Baker caught the ball on the right wing, crossed to her right with a rocker step, crossed back to her left, drove towards the middle of the paint, jumped to the basket and extended her body to finish a reverse right-handed layup on the left side of the backboard to make it 12-10 in favor of the Setters.

Goode got the ball underneath her own basket with just over eight minutes left in the second as the Pace defense waited in a full-court press. Goode dribbled coast-to-coast with her defender on her hip, and jumped to shoot her layup from just outside the restricted area arc. Goode contorted her body after absorbing contact and acrobatically finished the contested layup to make it 14-12 Pace.

During the next Le Moyne possession, Roberts took a midrange jumper from straight on. It bounced off the front rim, but Baker crashed the glass from the right wing. The NE10's leading rebounder jumped off two feet from the middle of the paint to grab the offensive board, shot her put back attempt while still in the air, and banked the shot in off the glass to tie the game at 14-14.

Katumina Mansaray drove and made a pullup from the left side of the floor with 2:53 left in the first half.

During the subsequent Le Moyne possession, Goode caught a pass on the left wing from Lexi Gruss and knocked down the three pointer to put the Dolphins up 21-20.

Morgan Ryan converted a triple for Pace with 49 seconds left in the half, then Goode made another long-distance shot during the next possession to give Le Moyne a 24-23 lead going into the halftime locker room.

Lusher caught a pass from Baker in the right corner with 8:27 left in the third quarter. Lusher drove left, dribbled to the middle of the floor, and just before reaching the paint she pulled up and drained the contested jumper to tie the game at 26-26.

Pace scored at the other end, then during the next Le Moyne possession, Roberts drove towards the right block from the perimeter, absorbed contact on her way to the basket, finished a layup over Lorde, drew a shooting foul and converted the additional free throw to put the Dolphins up 29-28.

Lauren Hackett hit a three for Pace with 6:23 left in the third to give the Setters a 33-31 lead.

At the other end, Linnin caught the ball on the left wing and drove towards the middle of the paint. Linnin spun to her left and converted a tough fallaway shot off the glass to once again tie the score.

With 4:31 left in the third, Goode missed a contested layup at the rim but grabbed her own offensive rebound in the paint. Surrounded by Pace defenders, Goode retreated to the perimeter for a moment before dropping off a pass to a cutting Baker, who finished the layup to tie the game at 35-35.

Roberts blocked a shot in the paint with 2:11 left in the third frame, then Baker grabbed the rebound and quickly threw an outlet pass to Lusher on the right side of the floor. Lusher pushed the ball across half court as one retreating defender stood between her and the basket. Lusher attacked the hoop and used a euro step to get around the Pace player and finish a layup off the right side of the glass to put Le Moyne up 40-35 and force a Pace timeout.

Le Moyne closed the third period on an 8-0 run, capped by a Lusher three-point field goal with 30 seconds on the clock that gave the Dolphins a 43-35 lead after 30 minutes of action.

Pace came up with a steal on defense with 7:30 left in the fourth quarter and pushed the ball in transition. Just as the dribbler reached half court, Florvil cut her off, poked the ball away, came up with steal and finished a fast break layup at the other end to put the Dolphins up 47-35 and force a Pace timeout.

Pace scored their first points of the fourth quarter with 5:24 on the clock as Sinclair sank a jump shot from the paint to make it a 10-point game.

With 4:50 left in the fourth, Lusher drove baseline from the left wing and finished a reverse layup on the right side of the backboard to extend Le Moyne's lead to 49-37.

Hackett responded at the other end with a three pointer for Pace to trim the Setters' deficit to single digits.

A Hackett fast break with 3:02 left in the fourth cut Le Moyne's lead to 49-43.

At the other end, Roberts sealed her defender above the right block, Lusher threw a pass over the top, and Roberts finished the layup over a help defender to extend their lead to 51-43.

Le Moyne got a stop on defense, then Baker scored at the other end off an assist from Goode to make it a 10-point game.