New Rochelle, NY - The Iona College women's basketball team snapped a two-game skid and improved their home record on the season to 9-2 as they downed Canisius 77-66. Senior Tiara Headen lead all scorers with a double-double, 19 points and 10 rebounds, and was a perfect 6-for-6 at the free-throw line. She was one of three Gaels in double figures with classmate Lauren DeFalco and junior Anna McLean.

In a game that saw six lead changes and seven ties, the Gaels (16-10, 10-5 MAAC) found themselves down by two with 9:42 remaining in the first half. After McLean put in one of her 10 points to tie the score at 18, the Gaels went on a 17-13 run to close out the half and take 35-31 lead into the locker room. Though the Gaels were up by four, Canisius (10-16, 5-10 MAAC) was able to get to the free-throw line 10 times in the first half and converted seven times.

At the start of the second half, Amanda Cavo scored seven of the Griffs' nine points as Canisius took a two-point lead, 40-38. The Griffs extended the lead to six points, their largest lead of the game, on back-to-back layups by Laura Buetow and Brianna Lucas. The Maroon and Gold bounced back and staged a 15-4 run with Headen knocking down a big three-pointer and giving the Gaels back the lead at 53-48. Iona pushed the lead up to 10 points as freshman Anda Ivkovic, who had 7 points on the night, hit a long three-pointer and senior Lauren Huber hit jumper for two of her four points on the night. The Griffs cut the lead down to four points but got no closer as the Gaels two big 3s from DeFalco with under two minutes remaining to help the Gaels take a 77-66 win.

Iona shot 62.5% from beyond the arc in the second half and shot 75% from the charity stripe. Iona held Canisius to just 30.8% from three-point range and only gave them seven chances at the free-throw line in the second half. The Gaels added 13 second chance points to the Griffs' four. DeFalco was 40% from beyond the arc and perfect at the free-throw line and finished with 18 points. McLean had another double-double for the season (10 points, 10 rebounds) and classmate Naeemah Ricketts came off the bench and put up eight rebounds and four assists. Sophomore Thazina Cook added 9 points, 7 rebounds and two steals. Amanda Cavo lead Canisius with 16 points, five rebounds, followed by Brittane Russell with 13 points, four rebounds. Ellie Radke added 11 points off the bench.

The Gaels are back in action in Loudonville as they face-off with Siena on Friday, February 22 at 7 pm.