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 suffered its first home conference loss Friday evening, dropping a 73-61 decision to first place Marist.
Both teams started the game sluggishly on the offensive side, but a layup by senior forward
Tomica Bacic gave the Gaels an early 7-6 lead. However on the next Marist possession, a three point field goal by Leanne Ockenden put the Red Foxes up 9-7, a lead the Gaels were unable to crack for the duration of the contest.
A jumpshot by Kelsey Beynnon as time expired gave Marist a 39-26 advantage at the half. The Red Foxes had 24 points in the paint in the first half, as well as 13 points off Iona turnovers. The Gaels on the other hand, shot only 29% from the field in the half.
"I believe what happened on the offensive end affected how we played on the defensive end," said head coach
Anthony Bozzella. "It was the first time in about a month I felt like we lost our confidence."
The Gaels came out with intense defense to start the second half, creating offensive opportunites on the other end. Iona was able to cut the Marist lead to eight after a jumper by senior forward
Kristina Ford with 15:38 remaining.
With Iona down 11 with 7:46 remaining, Ockenden connected on back-to-back three pointers to give the Red Foxes a 17 point lead that took the Gaels out of the game for good.
Ford led the Gaels with 14 points and added four rebounds, while freshman guard
Damika Martinez had 12 points and six rebounds.
The Gaels will look to bounce back on Sunday afternoon when they host Fairfield at the Hynes Center at 2:00 pm.
