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.
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - The Iona College women's basketball team suffered a tough 79-65 loss to first place Marist Thursday evening at McCann Arena on the Red Foxes' Senior Day.
Marist started the game on a 13-0 run, with eight points from guard Casey Dulin as the Red Foxes controlled the game at the 14:19 mark. A free throw by guard Natalie Gomez with 3:14 remaining gave Marist its biggest lead of the half at 32-12.
But the Gaels fought back, as they ended the half on a 13-5 run, with nine points from freshman guard
Aleesha Powell, to cut the lead to single digits, 39-30 at the the half.
With Iona down 41-30 with 19:35 remaining, the Gaels went on an 8-0 run capped by an easy layup from sophomore center
Sabrina Jeridore, to cut the lead to just to just three with 17:34 left in the game.
That's as close as the Gaels would come as three pointing from guard Leanne Ockenden and forward Brandy Gang took Iona out of the game, as it fell to 7-10 in conference play. A three-pointer by Ockenden gave Marist its biggest lead of the game at 24 with 5:02 remaining.
Gang led all scorers with 21 points, while Ockenden finished with 17 points, including five three-pointers. Marist as a team drilled 11 threes in the contest and 20 points from the free throw line.
Powell led the Gaels with 17 points, as senior forward
Kristina Ford contributed 16 points and six rebounds. Senior center
Milica Paligoric had 11 points off the bench, including three trifectas, and Jeridore finished with eight rebounds.
Iona looks to end the regular season on a high note, when they host Saint Peter's on Senior Day at the Hynes Center Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm.
