Mike Ritz is currently a junior journalism major at Iona College. He is from Yorktown, New York and is a sports writer for the school newspaper, The Ionian. Mike has been the manager for the Iona women's basketball team since his freshman year. A lover of sports, he played four years of basketball in high school as well as four years of golf. Mike comes from an Iona family, both of his parents, Ron and Michelle, graduated from Iona as well as his sister, Jen, played basketball for the Gaels for four years and graduated in 2008. Mike loves to be a part of the Iona family and aspires to be a successful sports writer when he graduates.
The Iona College women's basketball team defeated the Philadelphia University Rams 96-61 in an exhibition matchup at the Hynes Athletics Center. Senior guard
Kristina Ford led all scorers with 19 points.
At the very start of the game, freshman
Damika Martinez netted four straight points to get the Gaels off to a great start. She ended up with 12 points in the first half, and 18 for the game. "Damika was on fire to start the game," said head coach
Anthony Bozzella. "She really got us going and I felt that the team fed off of her energy to give us that edge in the first half."
After a three-pointer by Ford to give the Gaels a 7-4 advantage with 18:00 left in the first half, the Maroon & Gold did not give up the lead for the rest of the game. With Ford's 19 points, she also contributed 8 rebounds. "Kris has really stepped up her game to the next level already this year," said Bozzella. "I honestly believe that when she is on, there is no better player than Kris in the MAAC."
Senior captains
Suzi Fregosi and
Tomica Bacic played a big part in the Gaels' impressive win. Fregosi had 11 assists and added six points, while Bacic recorded a double-double, with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
The bench play was also great for Iona. Junior
Diana Hubbard had 12 points, including two three-pointers. Freshman
Aleesha Powell came off the bench as well, and recorded eight assists. Sophomore
Jackie Marshall was a spark-plug off the bench, as she netted three three-pointers in a row, 3-for-4 in the game, giving her nine points in just six minutes of action.
The big difference in this game was the rebounding. The Gaels out rebounded Philadelphia 55-28 for the game, and outscored the Rams 40-16 in paint.
Kristen Blye led the Rams with 17 points and added six rebounds in 34 minutes of play.
As well as the Gaels played, Coach Bozzella expressed that the team still has a lot of work to do to be successful this season. "We committed way too many fouls tonight. We need to play defense with our feet, not our hands. Our intensity was there, but we fouled way too much tonight."
The Gaels' first official game of the season is on November 11, at 11:11 am at the Iona College Tip-Off Tournament at the Hynes Athletic Center, as they take on North Carolina A&T in the first round. The other first-round matchup is Michigan State vs. Villanova. The winner of these two games will go up against each other the next day.
