LOUDONVILLE, NY - The Iona College women's basketball team lost on Sunday to Siena, 59-47. The Saints used some spectacular free throw shooting to maintain their lead and close things out against the Gaels.
GAME SUMMARY
Siena opened things up with three baskets in the first three minutes, heading into the first media timeout ahead 6-0. They maintained the shutout up until redshirt sophomore
Monica Barefield buried a three-pointer with just under four minutes to play in the opening quarter. Redshirt sophomore
Tori Lesko helped cut into the early deficit with a bucket of her own, but Siena proceeded to answer with five straight points of their own. Barefield put in a layup to make it 12-7, and the Saints eventually closed out the frame leading 16-7. Siena was 8-10 from the free throw line in the opening period.
Junior
Ashley Martin started the second period and registered the first points with a jumper from the right elbow. The Gaels proceeded to have their best quarter of the day, highlighted by three-pointers from Barefield and junior transfer guard
Morgan Rachu. The Maroon & Gold outscored Siena in the paint, on second chance tries and recorded more points off of turnovers. But still, the Saints were able to maintain and add to their lead by shooting a perfect 6-6 from the line and 2-2 from beyond the arc. Iona trailed 32-22 entering the locker room at halftime.
The third quarter was a lot of the same for both teams: Iona struggled to get things going offensively, scoring just eight points in the period and Siena took advantage of free-point opportunities at the charity stripe. The Gaels were 4-12 from the field in the third quarter, with two of the buckets being layups from Barefield. The Saints were once again perfect from the line, going 6-6. Siena led by 14 at the conclusion of the quarter, its largest lead of the game.
Iona never folded however, scoring seven of the first nine points in the final frame to cut Siena's lead to 10. That was the closest the Maroon & Gold got though, allowing the Saints to build on its lead further into the fourth quarter. Barefield scored her 20
thpoint of the game from the charity stripe late in the fourth quarter. She finished the day 7-15 from the field and 4-7 from three-point land, despite the loss.Â
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Barefield set new career highs in the loss, scoring 20 points and burying four three-pointers. Her seven field goals made tied her career-best.
- The Joliet, Illinois native has now scored 10+ points in three of her last four contests coming off of the bench. This performance against Siena marks just the second time an Iona player has scored 20 points in a game.
- Junior Ashley Martin also set new career-highs in the loss, playing 19 minutes, scoring 4 points, recording two field goals made and collecting three steals.
- Tori Lesko finished with three assists, a team-high, extending her streak of consecutive games with at least two assists to 13 games this season.
- Despite the double-digit loss, Iona actually made more field goals than Siena. The Gaels finished 16-48 and the Saints were 15-35.
- Siena was 27-29 (93%) from the free throw line, and a perfect 13-13 in the second half.
- The Maroon & Gold converted on more three-point tries than Siena, marking the third time this season they have lost despite holding an edge in scoring from beyond the arc.Â
UP NEXT
Iona returns home next week to continue conference play, hosting Canisius on January 10. The game is set to tip-off at 11:00 a.m. and will be Kids Day at the Hynes Center.
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