NEW ROCHELLE, NY - The Iona University women's basketball team fired on all cylinders on Sunday night, cruising to an 80-59 victory over LIU. In front of the home crowd for the first time this season, the Gaels shot 56% from the field and connected on 13 three-pointers in victory for first-year head coach Angelika Szumilo's debut at the Hynes Center.

THE RUNDOWN

Iona opened the game with a 7-0 run paced by five points from graduate student Natalia Otkhmezuri that prompted a LIU timeout at the 7:03 mark in the quarter. The Sharks battled back from there, outscoring the Gaels 17-10 in the final seven minutes to bring the score to 17-17 at the end of the first quarter.
 
The visiting team carried momentum into the second quarter, using a 10-4 stretch to take a 27-21 advantage through the first five minutes of action. A three-pointer by junior Ella Fajardo at 3:35 kicked off a strong 14-7 closing run by the Gaels. The second quarter was capped by a corner triple from sophomore Ale Civera as time expired to give Iona the 35-34 lead at the half.
 
A quick three out of the break gave LIU the lead back, 37-35, but graduate student Sierra DeAngelo picked up five points in the next minute to regain the lead for Iona. The Gaels offense clicked from then on, outscoring LIU 22-10 over the final 7:51 of action in the third quarter. Iona shot 7-of-14 from the floor and 6-of-9 from downtown over that stretch. Sophomore Petra Oborilova paced the Gaels with nine points on three three-pointers.
 
The strong end of the third carried over for the final quarter as the Maroon & Gold continued to hold court over the Sharks, outscoring them 22-10 in the final period. Freshman Emma Donnelly and junior Judith Gomez led the way with six points each in the frame. The Gaels shot 73% (8-10) from the floor in the fourth quarter to earn the 80-59 victory.

IONA PERFORMERS

• Oborilova posted a career-high 17 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 from downtown. She also added six rebounds and two blocks for the Gaels.
• Otkhmezuri added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists.
• Gomez also finished in double-figures with 6-of-9 shooting and had an all-around effort with five rebounds and career-highs with five assists and six steals.
• DeAngelo also posted double figures with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
• Fajardo had a near double-double effort with nine points and a career-high 10 assists.

THE OPPONENT

• Nigeria Harkless posted a team-high 16 points and a game-high seven rebounds for the Sharks.
• Amaya Dowdy added 15 points, six rebounds and five steals to go with two blocks.
• Mariah Elohim also finished in double-digits with 10 points.

TEAM STATS

• The Gaels out shot LIU 56.6%-36.4% and 56.5% to 30.8% from downtown.
• LIU held a 31-28 advantage on the glass over Iona.
• The Maroon & Gold had 27 assists and 20 turnovers while the Sharks had 16 and 19 respectively.

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• Iona posted double-digit three-pointers for the first time this season, the 13 made three-pointers triples is the most in a single game since posting 13 triples against Siena on February 16, 2023.
• Sunday was the fifth time a Szumilo led team has reached 80 points in a contest. Her teams at FDU posted a 4-1 record when reaching that scoring mark.

UP NEXT

The Gaels now hit the road for the next five games, first up is a two-game stretch in Florida. Iona will travel to Bethune-Cookman on Wednesday, November 15 for a 5:30 p.m. contest.