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 dropped their second straight with a 78-64 loss to Fairfield Sunday afternoon at the Hynes Center.
The game was very even early on, as a layup by senior forward
Tomica Bacic gave Iona an early 7-6 lead before a jumper by Katie Cizynski put the Stags up and ended the Gaels' last lead of the game.
With the game tied at 22 with 8:04 remaining in the first half, two three pointers by Brittany MacFarlane and Desiree Pina opened the game up, as the Stags finished the half on a 16-4 run. A jumper by Iona freshman
Damika Martinez as time expired cut the Fairfield lead to 38-26 at the half.
The Maroon & Gold came out on a mission to start the second half, bringing much needed defensive intensity to the floor, creating offensive opportunities. A 13-7 Iona run cut the Fairfield lead to 45-42 with 15:00 remaining.
From there, Fairfield responded with a 11-0 run, led by six points from Taryn Johnson. After the run, the closest the Gaels would get to the Fairfield lead was nine, as they dropped to 6-4 in conference play this season.
Martinez led all scorers with 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting with five rebounds. Senior forward
Kristina Ford had 15 points and four rebounds. Senior
Suzi Fregosi added a team high five assists, and now stands just 14 assists away from tying the all-time assists mark at Iona, held by
Toni Horvath.
Fairfield shot lights out from the field at 56%, the second highest shooting percentage against the Gaels this season. Also contributing to the Stags' success was 30 points scored in the paint.
"As we go forward, it is up to our seniors to step up, said head coach
Anthony Bozzella. "We will regroup and try to play our best basketball against a good Siena team."
The Gaels look to end their skid Saturday afternoon when they travel to Loudonville, NY to take on the Saints at 2:00 pm.
