NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona College women's basketball team fell short of a comeback win on Saturday afternoon at the Hynes Center, losing to Stony Brook 53-46. Senior
Juana Camilion notched the first double-double of her career in the loss, scoring 14 points and adding 10 rebounds.
Stony Brook controlled things early on, jumping out to a 10-2 lead as the first quarter reached the midway point. An Olivia Vezaldenos trifecta trimmed the deficit to five points, but it would be Iona's final points of the frame. The Seawolves closed out the opening stanza on a 9-0 run spanning the final four minutes, taking a 19-5 lead into the second.
Across the opening eight minutes of the second quarter, Stony Brook limited the Gaels to just a pair of layups. Camilion scored inside with 90 seconds left in the half to make it a 27-11 game. Shyan Mwai followed that up with a driving layup and a foul, converting on the free throw with just over a minute to play. Stony Brook's Wool answered on the other end with her own and-one finish, erasing Iona's momentum. The Seawolves carried a 30-15 edge into the locker room at the break.
Facing a 15-point deficit, Iona came out firing on all cylinders to start the second half. Back-to-back triples from Jazmin Benn and Mwai made it a nine-point game and forced an early Stony Brook timeout. The Seawolves responded with a pair of its own buckets, pushing the lead back to 14 points. The Maroon & Gold pulled within nine points again, 37-28, after a triple from Judith Gomez and two makes from Ketsia Athias inside. Stony Brook padded the lead again, but a Camilion three-pointer in the final 30 seconds made it 41-31 heading into the fourth.
With 6:30 left in regulation, Iona cut the deficit to seven points, 44-37, the smallest gap since the four-minute mark of the opening frame. The two sides went cold over the next two minutes before a Stony Brook three made it a double-digit game again. The Gaels' furious comeback came to life after that. A three-point play for Camilion, followed by a Vezaldenos trifecta made it 47-43 with three minutes to play. Stony Brook, being held scoreless for more than three minutes, saw its lead whittle down to one point, 47-46, with two minutes to play after another Camilion triple. The Maroon & Gold would not get over the hump however, never finding a go-ahead score and allowing Stony Brook to close the game at the charity stripe.
NOTABLE NUGGETS
- Camilion's 14-point, 10-rebound double-double was the first of her collegiate career. She led the team in points for the third time in four games this season, while her rebound mark set a new career best.
- The two sides shot a nearly identical percentage from the floor: Stony Brook was 19-56 (34%), while Iona finished 17-52 (33%). The Seawolves shot a higher percentage from downtown (44% - 28%) and took and made four more free throws than Iona.
- Vezaldenos knocked down a pair of triples, the first time this season she made multiple. She has converted on at least one three-pointer in all four games thus far.
- Athias quietly had a nice night in the stat book, scoring seven points while adding three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
- Stony Brook's Earlette Scott stuffed the stat sheet as well, scoring 15 points, to go along with six rebounds, three blocks and five steals.
- Iona's defense limited Stony Brook to 53 total points. Coming into the game, the Seawolves had been averaging 73.5 points per contest as a unit.
UP NEXT
Iona continues its homestand, hosting Bucknell on Tuesday, November 23 at 7:00 p.m. in the Hynes Center.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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