Pleasantville, N.Y. (February 23) -- Senior Gabrielle Gibson (Amityville, N.Y./Copiague) moved into a tie for third place on the Assumption career scoring list as the Hounds held on a for a 61-51 victory at Pace on Saturday afternoon on the Goldstein Center. Assumption is receiving votes in the USA Today Sports Division II National Poll for the 10th straight week and is currently ranked No. 7 in the NCAA East Region Poll, released earlier this week.

The Hounds came out firing early as Assumption jumped out to a 13-2 lead over the opening 4:23, capped by a fast break layup from senior Sabrina Siciliano (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield-Warde) that forced a Pace timeout. Assumption stretched the lead out to as many as 16 at 28-12 on a three from the wing by Gibson with 7:40 left. The Hounds continued to lead 33-18 with 3:45 left before the Setters closed the half on a 7-1 run to cut the lead to 34-25 at the half.

Assumption began the second half on a 7-0 run, capped by a fastbreak layup from Siciliano with 15:50 left, to stretch the lead up 17 points at 42-25. A quick 7-3 scoring spurt pulled the Setters to within 13 before a layup in traffic from freshman Kelly Conley (Ellington, Conn./Ellington) put the Hounds back up 47-32.

Pace continued to chip away and with 4:56 left, Setters senior Brittany Shields converted a three-point to cut the lead down to single digits at 57-48. After Gibson pushed the lead back up to 11 moments later, Shields again nailed a pair of free throws to cut the lead down to just eight at 59-51 with 2:42 remaining. Assumption held the Setters scoreless over the remainder of the game though to come away with the 10-point win and sweep the seasons series.

Gibson led the Hounds with 18 points and finished tied with Katie Kerr '00 for third place on the Assumption scoring list with 1,529 career points. Siciliano joined her in double figures with 13 points, along with six rebounds for each. Shields led the Setters with a 17-point, 14-rebound double-double.

With the win, Assumption runs its win streak to five straight and is now 19-6 overall and 16-5 in Northeast-10 play. Pace drops to 13-12 overall and 11-10 in the league with the defeat. The win, combined with a UMass Lowell this afternoon, lifts the Hounds into third place alone in the league standings with one game to go.

Assumption closes out the regular season on Tuesday, February 26th as the Hounds host American International for a 5:30 p.m. start on Senior Night. The five Assumption College seniors will be recognized prior to the game in a brief ceremony.

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