Posted By Lynn Worthy, Sun Staff
Clanks never sounded so good for River Hawks fans.
The River Hawks blanketed Pace University's offensive weapons throughout the 18-point win on Satrurday. UML allowed just one player to score in double digits (Talor Losey, 10 points) and held the Setters to 28.8 percent shooting.
UML didn’t allow a second-chance point in the entire game, limiting Pace to one-and-done offensive possessions for most of the contest.
"We're still not where we need to be, but we did a better job," River Hawks head coach Kathy O'Neil said of the defensive effort. "Our defense has been hot and cold this year. I think the last couple games we've defended a little bit better and that's nice. We had to defend, we do. It's just such a tough league. You have to defend because some night you're just not going to score. If you want to be in games you're going to defend."
Numerology
20 - The River Hawks finished with a 20-rebound advantage over the Setters (54 to 34).
6 - Junior center Revital Carmon had a team-high 11 rebounds to lead a group of six UML players with five or more boards.
16 - Pace scored 16 points off of River Hawks turnovers and still lost by nearly 20 points.
21 - The Setters missed, yes missed, 21 shots from three-point range. They were 7-of-28, apparently content to feast or famine from behind the arch.
Interchangeable parts
One of the keys to UML’s perimeter defense was the ability of the bigger post players to switch on screens and challenge outside shots. The drawback is that those larger players have to defend further away from the basket than usual.
“Kathy prepared us, she told us what they were going to do,” senior forward Liron Asher said. “So we knew what they were going to do, and we knew they were small just fanned it out and we had one person to help. That’s all we needed.”
The Setters leading scorer Stephanie Klingele was held to nine points on 3-of-14 shooting. She came into the game averaging 14.5 points per game. Pace’s starting backcourt of Kristin Connolly and Christine Fitzgerald combined for 14 points.
"All of our posts, we're pretty much all kind of athletic," Asher said. "We can all kind of adjust ourselves. We trusted each other a lot today. We always knew we had somebody to help. Even though we got a big player going against a guard, we know somebody is going to be there to help."
Breaking the streak
The Setters had won the last four games between the two teams, and five of the last six. Pace had won back-to-back games and defeated NE-10 competitor Bryant on Thursday. Four of the Setters previous five conference losses had been by 12 points or less.