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.
NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College women's basketball team won a hard fought 65-60 contest over Manhattan Sunday afternoon at the Hynes Athletics Center in the first game of a double header with the men's squad.
The Gaels struggled early out of the gate, as the Jaspers started the game on an 11-4 run, led by two jumpers from junior guard Toni-Ann Lawrence. With Iona down 22-11 with 10 minutes left in the half, senior center
Milica Paligoric was a spark off the bench, leading the Gaels on an 11-0 run with seven points to tie the game.
“This game just showed everyone how hard Milica has worked the past few weeks,” said head coach
Anthony Bozzella. “She's in great shape and brought so much energy to the court today.”
The Gaels fed off that energy, by taking the lead at the 3:54 mark with a three point field goal by senior forward
Tomica Bacic. Junior guard
Haley D'Angelo ended the first half with a three pointer at the buzzer to give the Gaels a 38-29 advantage heading into the second half.
“I have tremendous confidence in Haley,” said Bozzella. “She is such a tough kid, and she helped us out in a big way today.”
Freshman guard
Damika Martinez stepped up to start the second half, leading the Gaels their biggest lead of the game, 53-39, with 10:25 remaining.
Three point shooting brought the Jaspers back, as they responded with an 18-8 run, with eight points from senior forward Lindsey Loutsenhizer, cutting the Gaels' lead to just four with 1:08 left. Four free throws from senior
Suzi Fregosi sealed the deal, giving the Gaels their fourth win out of their last five games.
Martinez led the Gaels with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Bacic had 13 points and eight rebounds. Paligoric had a season-high 13 points and four rebounds. Loutsenhizer led the Jaspers with 14 points and eight rebounds.
“We beat a very good Manhattan team today,” said Bozzella. “It was a great team win and we're going to try to continue this type of play as we take on Saint Peters.”
The Gaels travel to Jersey City when they take on Saint Peters on Friday at 7pm.
