MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Saint Anselm College women's basketball team was tripped up by regionally-ranked Pace University in Northeast-10 Conference action on Sunday, 63-56.

The Hawks fall to 12-11 overall with an 8-8 mark against NE10 opponents. The Setters, who are also receiving votes in the D2SIDA National Poll, improve to 19-5 on the season and 13-4 against the league. Saint Anselm is back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 16 when Franklin Pierce University comes to the Hilltop for a 5:30 p.m. opening tip-off.

Senior Peyton Steinman (Pittsfield, Mass.) led all players with 21 points on 7-of-20 shooting from the floor. She added seven rebounds, three offensive and four defensive, to aid her stat line. Sophomore Gabby Turco (Wildwood, N.J.) added 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds for Saint Anselm. The Hawks sunk all 13 of their free throw attempts in the contest.

Steinman now has scored 1,677 career points in a Saint Anselm uniform, holding second place on the all-time career point scoring list for the Hawks. Leading the NE10 in points per game this season (20.6), Steinman currently sits as one of just four student-athletes in team history to average north of 20 points per game.

The Setters jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on a triple by Kelsey Quain with 6:23 left in the first frame. The teams traded baskets throughout the middle portion of the quarter before Steinman netted five consecutive points which tied the game at nine a piece with 3:04 remaining. Junior Liv Robles (Wallingford, Conn.) drained a pair of free throws to give the Hawks an 11-9 lead through the opening 10 minutes of play.

In the second quarter alone, the teams swapped the lead 10 times as the Hawks would take control in the final two minutes of the half. Junior Macy Spinks (Luton, England) gave Saint Anselm a two-point lead after draining a three with 1:41 left in the second quarter. Turco and junior McKenzy Ouellette (West Newfield, Maine) would combine to give Saint Anselm a six-point headed to the half at 28-22.

Pace would battle back in the third stanza as Naya Rivera got a pair of jumpers to go to tie the score at 32 before Katumina Mansary and Lauren Hackett gave the Setters a five-point lead with 2:24 left in the quarter. Senior Stephanie Jankovic (Averill Park, N.Y.) got a jumper to fall with 13 seconds remaining, which pushed the score to 39-38 in favor of the visitors, but Quain sunk a trey in the closing seconds to give Pace a four-point edge head to the fourth.

Steinman and Turco each canned jump shots which cut the Hawks deficit to three but seven consecutive points by Pace opened a 10-point advantage with 3:13 to go at 56-46. Saint Anselm was unable to overcome the deficit with the time remaining, falling by a 63-56 score.