NEW ROCHELLE, NY— The Iona University women's basketball team fell to Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe Siena, 74-57 on Thursday night at the Hynes Athletic Center.
 
Graduate student Sierra DeAngelo led the Maroon & Gold with a team-high 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Junior Ella Fajardo tallied nine points along with a team-high four rebounds and four assists.

THE RUNDOWN

Siena controlled the game early, grabbing the first four baskets of the contest to take an 8-0 lead to the 3:27 mark in the opening quarter. DeAngelo punched back for the Gaels with a three-pointer and layup in back-to-back possessions for the Gaels. The visiting Saints held an 8-4 scoring margin in the final two minutes to grab a 16-9 lead at the end of the quarter.
 
After a quick bucket from the Saints, DeAngelo grabbed the first six Iona points of the second quarter down low to cut the deficit to three, 18-15 with 8:00 to go. Siena pushed back with an 8-0 run over the next 3:25 to take a 26-15 lead. Graduate student Natalia Otkhmezuri broke up the run on a step back jumper and junior Judith Gomez followed that up with a floating jumper in the lane. Siena stopped the mini-Iona run on a jumper before Iona utilized baskets from DeAngelo and sophomore Amaya B. Evans to push the deficit to five, 28-23. The Saints grabbed the last basket of the opening half to take a 30-23 lead into the half.
 
Siena created separation out of the intermission with an 12-6 start to the third quarter. That separation was enough as both teams traded 12 points apiece over the final five minutes of the third quarter to give the visitors a 54-41 advantage at end of the period. Fajardo led the Iona offense in the third with seven points and freshman Zoey Ward chipped in five points.
 
The strong second half continued for the Saints with a 20-16 scoring margin in the final quarter to keep the Gaels at distance and earn the 74-57 win and regular season series sweep.

IONA PERFORMERS

• DeAngelo led the Gaels in scoring for the fifth straight game finishing with 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting.
• Fajardo posted nine points along with four rebounds and four assists.
• Otkhmezuri added eight points.
• Ward tied her season and career-high with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting.
• Evans scored a career-high six points and a career-high and team-high four rebounds.
• Petra Oborilova grabbed a career-high three steals to go with six points, two rebounds and two assists.

THE OPPONENT

• Anajah Brown registered a game-high 33 points on 14-of-22 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for a double-double effort.
• Elisa Mevius also carded a double-double with 13 points and 11 assists. She had an all-around game grabbing seven rebounds to go with six steals on the defensive end.

TEAM STATS

• Iona shot 46.9% from the floor while Siena went 43.1% from the field.
• Both teams had an off night from beyond the arc with four made triples each. The Gaels had a 28.6% clip to the Saints 17.4% clip from downtown.
• Siena held a commanding advantage on the glass with a 42-27 rebounding margin.
• Iona committed 23 turnovers leading to 13 Siena steals. The Saints turned the ball over 14 on Thursday night.

AROUND THE MAAC

• Fairfield rolled past Marist, 76-49 for its 18^th straight win on Kids Day at Mahoney Arena.
• Mount picked up a 64-43 victory over Rider in an afternoon contest at Knott Arena.
• Quinnipiac picked up a 46-40 road win over Saint Peter's.
• Niagara pushed its winning streak to six with a big 88-63 road win at Manhattan.

UP NEXT

The Gaels travel up to Marist on Saturday, February 10 for a 7 p.m. tip-off at McCann Arena.