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WEST HAVEN, Conn. - All Debbie Buff needed was five words to sum up what went wrong in the University of New Haven women's basketball team's first home game in 21 months.
"That second quarter just buried us," Buff said after a 72-51 loss to Pace at Charger Gymnasium.
New Haven (3-2, 0-2 in the Northeast-10) had a solid opening quarter making seven of 14 shots from the field but the game got away from them in the second quarter.
A Brie Pergola (Torrington, Conn./Torrington) 3-pointer gave New Haven a one-point lead but the Setters scored the next 15 points. By halftime, it was a 45-22 lead for the visitors.
Pace was 12 of 14 from the field including 10 of 10 inside the 3-point line. The Chargers missed 14 of their 17 shots in the quarter as Pace took a 45-22 lead into the third quarter.
Unfortunately for the Chargers, it is not the first time this season that a second-quarter meltdown proved costly.
New Haven led at Le Moyne 23-11 after the first only to be outscored 22-3 in the second quarter en route to the 65-48 loss in the Chargers' conference opener.
"We have to get back to our identity on defense," said Camryn DeBose (Wellington, Fla./Wellington Community), who led New Haven with 15 points. "We were ranked sixth [in Division II] two years ago. In the first half, we let them get too many transition points. It is frustrating because what we are known for is playing defense. We just remind each other that we have to lock in on defense, our defense turns into our offense."
New Haven did outscore Pace 29-27 in the second half including a five-point edge in the fourth quarter but it was far too little, far too late.
"Offensively, our continuity was good but we missed outside shots and we were 1 and done," Buff said. "The same things we have been telling them even with the wins, we have to rebound the ball, it has to be automatic. We have to take care of the ball, just little things. There are a lot of detail things and I told them that we didn't look disciplined in the second quarter."
New Haven was outrebounded 34-30 and committed 16 turnovers in the loss.
Pace was 12 of 32 from the field in the first, third and fourth quarters but the second did end any hopes that the Chargers would emerge victorious in their home debut.
The good news is there are players back from the team that won 18 games during the 2019-20 season. They will continue to work with the newcomers to get the Chargers back to playing the successful brand of basketball they are used to playing.
"What we need to do more of is more team huddles," DeBose said. "When it fell apart in the second quarter, I feel like we barely came together in huddles to remind each other, 'defense, defense, defense.
"It was a little too late but we did show heart and energy [in the second half]. That is what we are known for, we are going to put up a fight no matter what."
Aurora Deshaies (Syracuse, N.Y./Bishop Ludden) had six of her eight points in the first quarter. Once Pace started throwing extra defenders at her, New Haven had opportunities to make Pace pay by making shots from the perimeter. That didn't happen.
"We missed outside shots, they were doubling down on Ro [Deshaies]," Buff said. "We are known for our defense and we didn't commit to defense no matter what we played. Our transition defense wasn't good, we got one shot and done and then we were just playing catch up the whole time."
Pergola added five points and seven rebounds.
Lauren Schetter had 22 points and nine rebounds while Arianna Stockinger added 17 points for Pace (3-0, 3-0).
