NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College women's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a 67-45 victory over Winthrop on Saturday night at the Hynes Center. Iona was carried offensively by double-digit scoring efforts from Ketsia Athias, Juana Camilion, Isabelle Lipinski and Shyan Mwai.

Iona opened things up early on, jumping out to a 10-0 advantage in the opening four-plus minutes of action in New Rochelle. Winthrop notched its first points of the evening on a Luka Malinka basket with 5:13 remaining in the opening frame. The Gaels' lead grew to 18-2 with under a minute left in the first, eventually taking a 20-7 edge into the second quarter.

The advantage ballooned to as much as 27 points, 37-10, with 90 seconds to play in the first half. An old-fashioned three-point play for the Eagles trimmed their deficit to 24 points in the final 60 seconds, but Iona rebuilt the lead to 26 points, leading by a 41-15 margin after 20 full minutes at the Hynes Center.

A 6-0 run for Winthrop in the early portion of the third quarter whittled the Iona lead down to 20 points. Another run by the Eagles spanning the final 3:35 of the third quarter sent the game into the fourth quarter with Iona in front 52-35.

The Maroon & Gold pushed the lead to 20-plus again in the fourth after back-to-back triples from Thoranna Hodge-Carr and Camilion, never allowing Winthrop to break that threshold again. The Gaels improved to 2-0 on the season and secured a win in the home opener for the first time since 2016 with the 67-45 decision over Winthrop.

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• Camilion paced Iona in scoring for the second straight game, matching her 15-point effort from Tuesday at Bryant with an efficient 5-8 mark from the floor. She sank all four of her free throw attempts and added three assists, a rebound, a block and two steals.
• Athias and Lipinski also finished in double-figures, pouring in ten points apiece. Lipinski did her damage off the bench for the second straight game, coupling it with six rebounds and a pair of steals. Athias finished with a game-high seven boards.
• Mwai scored a season-high 13 points and dished out a career-best five assists.
• Hodge-Carr played well defensively, securing a career-high four steals. Offensively, she scored seven points on 3-4 shooting, knocking down the second trifecta of her career.
• Defensively, Iona forced 28 turnovers, limited the Eagles to just 45 points and held Winthrop without a triple on 11 attempts.
• The Maroon & Gold out-rebounded the Eagles 35-26. Iona held an 18-10 advantage in assists and a 38-20 edge in paint points.
• Iona improves to 2-0 in the series history with Winthrop. The other win came in the season-opener back during the 2019-20 campaign.

UP NEXT

Iona travels to UMass on Tuesday, November 16 for a 7:00 p.m. tip at the Mullins Center.

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