HAMILTON, NY — The Iona University women's basketball team dropped its opening game of the Colgate Thanksgiving Tournament, falling to Akron 64-51 at Cotterell Court.
 
Friday evening was the first ever meeting between the Zips and Gaels. Junior Ale Civera led the Maroon & Gold with a career-high 11 points. Senior Ella Fajardo recorded nine points and a game-high four assists. Senior Erin Leary and sophomore Zoey Ward both recorded nine points along with a team-high six rebounds.

THE RUNDOWN

Each team scored on its opening possession to kick off the neutral site. From there Akron used a 6-0 run to take the lead at 8-2 with 6:56 to go in the frame. Fajardo broke up the run with a three-pointer from the left side before the Zips answered with a three of their own. A triple from Leary and a driving layup from Ward followed to make it a 11-10 game with 3:40 left in the quarter. Akron followed that with the final basket of the quarter, a three-pointer to take a 14-10 lead.
 
Akron continued with the opening basket of the second frame. Iona got going shortly after as Zaccagnini recorded a pair of baskets. The Gaels rolled with an 11-4 run as a three-pointer from Civera gave the team its first lead, 21-20 with 5:13 to go. Out of the media timeout Akron ended the quarter with a 7-1 closing stretch to take a 27-22 lead into halftime.
 
The Zips continued the run into the third quarter with a 7-0 start. Iona cut the run on a pair of free throws from senior Talia DePetrillo and a knockdown three by senior Judith Gomez. The Gaels were unable to get stops on the defensive end as Akron ended the quarter with a 17-8 margin to take full control of the game.
 
Iona started the final quarter strong with a 10-5 stretch led by five points from Civera and an old fashioned three-point play by Ward to get within 11 points, 56-45 with 5:21 to go. But Akron would hold serve, not turning the ball over down the stretch to earn the 64-51 win.

IONA PERFORMERS

• Civera tallied a new career-high with 11 points and made a career best three three-pointers.
• Leary posted a season-high 9 points and 6 rebounds on the night. She led the Iona defense with three blocks and a pair of steals.
• Fajardo dished out a game-high in assists for the second straight contest, finishing with four dimes to go with nine points.

THE OPPONENT

• Akron had four scorers in double figures led by a game-high a game-high 13 points from Teniesha Clarke
• Alexus Mobley added 12 points for the Zips. Both Maddie Vejsicky and Zakia Rasheed posted 11 points.
• Shelbee Brown recorded a game-high nine rebounds.

TEAM STATS

• The Gaels shot 31% from the floor on the night while Akron shot 43.9%.
• Iona made a season-high eight three-pointers but shot 30.8% as a team from distance and Akron made six triples at a 31.6% clip.
• The Zips dominated the glass, outrebounding the Gaels, 44-30.
• Iona committed a season-low 12 turnovers and forced 15 Akron turnovers.

UP NEXT

Iona concludes the weekend in the consolation game tomorrow against UMBC. The matchup will air at 1 p.m. on YouTube.