NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona University women's basketball team earned its first win of the season on Tuesday night, defeating Wagner College 71-50 at the Hynes Athletic Center. The Maroon & Gold were paced by three scorers in double figures on the night.
 
Rookie forward Destinee Salgado led the way with her first career double-double totaling a career-high 20 points and 12 rebounds to go along with five steals. Senior Talia DePetrillo registered a career-high 13 points. Senior Ella Fajardo added a season-high 10 points along with a game-high seven assists.

THE RUNDOWN

It was a hot start for the Maroon & Gold at home, cashing in on a 10-2 opening run in the first 3:30 of play. Sophomore Zoey Ward and Salgado both chipped in a pair of layups along with a driving layup from DePetrillo for the early lead. The Seahawks punched back with an 11-4 run of their own to cut the deficit to one, 14-13. This prompted the Gaels to call timeout with 1:44 left in the frame. Salgado made a pair of free throws to get in double figures on the night and give the Gaels back the lead briefly.  Wagner recorded the final basket on a driving layup to take a 17-16 lead at quarter break.

Iona started off the second quarter strong with back to-back buckets from sophomore Mya Zaccagnini to take a 20-17 in the first two minutes. Wagner broke that run with a layup of their own to cut the lead Iona lead back down to one. Senior Erin Leary jump started a 7-2 run with an old fashioned three-point play followed by baskets from Fajardo and Ward to take a 27-21 advantage. It was back and forth from there with the Seahawks eventually cutting it to two with 49 seconds left. Junior Amaya B. Evans picked up a steal with 15 seconds left leading to a buzzer beating layup from senior Judith Gomez to give Iona a 37-33 lead at the intermission.
 
Scoring was slow out of the break as Wagner struck first with a layup at the 7:12 mark of the third quarter. The Gaels woke up shortly after with an eight-point run on a pair of baskets from Salgado along with a triple by DePetrillo and a free throw from Leary. Wagner used a 7-2 spurt to get back within five at 47-42 with 3:34 to go in the frame. From there it was all Iona with a 12-3 closing run in the final three minutes paced by five points from both DePetrillo and Fajardo to take a 59-45 lead.
 
The Gaels remained poised in the fourth quarter, outscoring Wagner 11-6 in the frame. Leary and Salgado led the way with four points each and Evans cashed in a corner three. Iona held Wagner to just three made field goals and forced five turnovers to secure the win.

IONA PERFORMERS

• Salgado poured in a game-high 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting for her first career double digit scoring effort. She also grabbed a game and career-high 12 rebounds along with five steals on the defensive end.
• DePetrillo totaled double figures on 4-of-8 shooting including three made three-pointers.
• Fajardo posted 10 points along with a game-high seven assists.
• Leary recorded a season-high 8 points to match four assists, four rebounds and two blocks on the defensive end. 

THE OPPONENT

• Julia Fabozzi posted a team-high 12 points for Wagner and grabbed eight boards.
• Keana Foz had an all-around game, registering 7 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals.

TEAM STATS

• Iona recorded a season-high 44.4% field goal percentage, Wagner shot 41.7% from the floor.
• The Gaels recorded five mad three-pointers while the Seahawks only connected on three triples.
• A close margin for the rebounding battle, with Iona holding a 33-31 advantage on the glass.
• Iona forced a season-high 23 turnovers while Wagner forced 16 Iona turnovers.

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• Iona improves to 15-4 all-time against Wagner having won the previous eight meetings. Coach Angelika Szumilo moves to 9-1 all-time in her career against the Seahawks.
• Salgado set new career highs in points, rebounds and steals in her first career double-double. It is the third double-double by a Gael this season and first 20-point scoring effort of the year.
• DePetrillo tallied a career-high in points, scoring double figures for the first time in her collegiate career.
• Fajardo recorded the 23 double digit scoring performance of her collegiate career. She led the Gaels in assists for the 18^th time with her game-high seven assists.
• Leary set new season-highs in scoring, rebounds.
• Ward totaled a career-high two blocks on the defensive end.

UP NEXT

The Gaels will travel upstate for the Colgate Thanksgiving Tournament beginning on Friday, November 29 with a 4 p.m. contest against Akron at Cotterell Court. Iona will then play either UMBC or Colgate on Saturday afternoon.