NEW ROCHELLE, NY— A fade away jumper by Rider's Taylor Langdan with 0.4 seconds remaining led to a 45-43 loss for the Iona University women's basketball team in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play at the Hynes Center. In a back-and-forth contest, the Gaels knotted the game up with 3.1 seconds remaining prior to the game winner from the Broncs.
 
Sophomore Noa Givon led Iona with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting. She also tallied three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block for the Maroon & Gold. Graduate student Sierra DeAngelo posted 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists three steals and a block. Junior Judith Gomez tallied seven points to go with a game-high eight rebounds.

THE RUNDOWN

Rider jumped out to an early 6-3 advantage in the opening four minutes of play. The two teams traded a few baskets over the next two minutes as Gomez recorded a reverse layup and Petra Oborilova knocked down a three to make it a two-point game, 10-8 with 2:44 remaining. The Broncs extended the lead with back-to-back threes Givon nailed a wide-open triple in the final minute to cut into Rider's 16-11 at quarter's end.
 
The start of the second quarter belonged to the Gaels with a 11-6 scoring margin in the first four minutes to knot the game at 22-22. DeAngelo paced the stretch with five points and Givon chipped in four points. Rider ended the frame on a 5-0 closing stretch to take a 27-22 lead into the half.
 
Scoring slowed out of the intermission with Iona holding a 9-6 scoring advantage in the frame. The Gaels utilized a 7-0 stretch to cut the deficit to two with 3:02 left in the quarter on a layup by Gomez followed by a three-pointer from Givon and a layup by junior Ella Fajardo. Rider broke up the run with a pair of free throws before Givon registered a layup in the final seconds to bring the deficit to two, 33-31 as the game headed to the final frame.
 
Iona started the fourth quarter on a 5-2 run led by three points from Givon and a layup by DeAngelo to take a 36-35 lead with 6:25 to go. From there both teams exchanged shots at the lead over the next 2:45 with Iona jumping back on top, 42-41 on a jumper by Givon with 2:24 remaining. Rider reclaimed the one-point lead on a layup with 1:11 to go. After a series of turnovers Iona got the ball back with 11 seconds left. Iona had a pair of layup chances at the rim fall out, but DeAngelo was fouled on the putback attempt with 3.1 left to go. She made the first free throw attempt to tie it before the go-ahead attempt hit the front of the rim for a Rider rebound and timeout to advance the ball. Langdan connected on the game winning turnaround jumper as the clock expired for the 45-43 win.

IONA PERFORMERS

• Givon posted her sixth game in double figures this season and tied career-high with seven made field goals finishing with a game-high 18 points. She also chipped in three rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block.
• DeAngelo recorded her seventh straight game in double digits, finishing with 11 points including 5-of-7 from the free throw line. She registered seven rebounds, four assists, tied her career-high with three steals and added a block.
• Gomez led Iona in rebounding for the sixth time this season with her game-high eight rebounds. She added seven points and two steals on the night.

THE OPPONENT

• Makayla Firebaugh posted a team-high 15 points on 5-of-9 shooting and 4-for-4 from the free throw line for the Broncs.
• Taylor Langdan recorded 12 points on 6-of-10 from the field and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

TEAM STATS

• In the low scoring affair Rider shot 37.5% from the field while Iona shot 29.1% as a team.
• Both teams struggled from distance with the Broncs going 3-of-13 for 23.1% and the Gaels shot 4-of-19 for 21.1% from downtown.
• Iona won the rebounding battle for the second straight game with a 35-30 advantage on the glass.
• The Gaels committed 13 turnovers for the game and made eight steals on the defensive end while Rider turned the ball over 16 times.

AROUND THE MAAC

• Canisius earned a 68-52 victory over Marist at the Koessler Center.
• Niagara used a strong second half to defeat Siena 84-70 to snap the Saints seven-game winning streak and push their own win streak to seven.
• Mount St. Mary's earned its third straight win with a 54-45 victory on the road at Quinnipiac.
• Saint Peter's used a dominate final quarter to earn a 61-55 win over Manhattan in Jersey City.

UP NEXT

The Gaels will make the short trip over to Jersey City on Saturday, February 17 for a 2 p.m. contest at Saint Peter's.