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, who 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.
MILWAUKEE, MI - Senior
Kristina Ford led the Gaels with 17 points and chipped in four rebounds as the Iona College women's basketball team fell to Marquette 93-44 Saturday evening at the Al McGuire Center.
It was a tale of two very different offensive outputs as the Golden Eagles shot a season high 57 percent from the floor, while the Gaels shot a season low 25 percent.
Marquette raced out to a early lead on the get go, starting the game on a 20-3 run led by junior forward Sarina Simmons, who scored five of the team's first 11 points.
"From the start, I thought we were going to be motivated, but we just came out flat and they took advantage of that," said head coach
Anthony Bozzella.
A three-pointer by junior guard
Diana Hubbard cut the lead to 14 with 11:12 left in the first, but it marked the closest the Gaels would get the rest of the way. A layup by sophomore forward Plouffe with 13 seconds left in the first push Marquette's lead to a first half high of 33 as the teams headed to the locker room.
Ford helped the Gaels early in the second with nine of the team's first 11 points of the stanza but a 15-7 run by the Golden Eagles cemented the win for Marquette.
Marquette controlled the glass, holding a 49-25 advantage for the game, contributing to an astounding 56 points in the paint. Plouffe led all scorers with 20 points, and was one of four Marquette starters in double figures.
Bozzella closed the day on a hopeful note, saying, "It's a tough, unfortunate loss, but we will learn and get better from this as the season goes on."
The Gaels are back in action Sunday, December 18 when they travel to Rutgers.
