NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona University women's basketball team bounced back with a 64-47 win over Manhattan on Thursday evening. The Gaels were paced by the starting lineup as all five starters finished the game in double figures in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory against the Jaspers at the Hynes Athletic Center.
 
It was the first time this season the Maroon & Gold had five scorers post 10-plus points in a single game. Leading the charge was senior Talia DePetrillo with a career and team-high 14 points. Senior Erin Leary picked up her first double-double in an Iona uniform with 11 points and a season-high 14 rebounds to pair with five assists. Seniors Ella Fajardo and Judith Gomez along with sophomore Zoey Ward also chipped in 11 points.

THE RUNDOWN

Ward got the Gaels started with a strong drive to basket to kick off the game. Manhattan punched back with a 10-0 run to take an eight-point advantage with 4:37 to go in frame. Fajardo broke up the run with a long two-pointer just inside the arc. DePetrillo followed with a three-pointer to cut the deficit down to three. A 6-2 closing stretch by the Jaspers gave the visitors a 16-9 lead.
 
The Gaels punched back to start the second frame with a pair of layups from DePetrillo and sophomore Mya Zaccagnini. The Jaspers answered with two straight baskets of their own to push the lead back to seven with 4:38 left to go in the quarter. From there it was all Iona with a 13-0 closing stretch with five different scorers contributing points to take a 26-20 halftime lead. Iona held the Jaspers to just four points in the second frame.
 
Iona got off to a 10-4 start out of the intermission, led by four points each from Ward and Gomez to take a 36-24 lead with 6:38 to go. This prompted a timeout from the Jaspers. Scoring from both sides slowed down tremendously from there as both teams went on a four-minute scoring drought. Action picked up in the final 2:30 of the third quarter with both teams trading blows. Manhattan held a slight 9-7 scoring advantage late in the frame to bring the score to 43-33 as the game headed into the final quarter.
 
The Jaspers looked to make a charge as the final quarter got underway with a quick 4-0 run that led to Iona calling timeout. Baskets from Gomez and Ward followed out of the timeout to get the Gaels back on track. Iona would continue to hold the visitors at bay with a 17-8 scoring margin in the final 5:43 of game action to earn the home win.

IONA PERFORMERS

• DePetrillo scored nine of her career and team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter.
• Leary posted seven of her 11 points in the second half. Her 14 rebounds were the most in a single game by a Gael this season. Leary also dished out a team-high five assists.
• Gomez posted 11 points on five made field goals and tallied a game-high three steals. She added three rebounds and a pair of assists.
• Fajardo also recorded 11 points on five made field goals and finished the day with four rebounds and four assists.
• Ward registered 11 points and four rebounds in the win.

THE OPPONENT

• Nitzan Amar led Manhattan with a game-high 15 points to go with four rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
• Leyla Öztürk also added 10 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
• Hana Mühl recorded a team-high six rebounds and four assists for the Jaspers.

TEAM STATS

• Manhattan held the slight shooting advantage over Iona, 43.5% to 42.9% for the game.
• The Gaels made six three-pointers at a 31.6% clip and held the Jaspers to just three triples at 21.4% for the game.
• Iona got it done at the charity stripe going 10-of-14 while Manhattan shot 4-of-8 at the line.
• The Gaels won the rebounding battle over the Jaspers, 33-27.

NOTABLE NUGGETS

• Iona improves to 6-3 at the Hynes Athletic Center this season.
• The Gaels have tied conference win total from last season with the sixth MAAC win of the year.
• Iona snaps a two-game skid against Manhattan and earns the 20^th home win in the all-time series against the two rival schools.
• DePetrillo tallied her second career-game in double figures with her career-high scoring effort.
• Leary registered her first double-double as a member of the Maroon & Gold and was the 21^st of her collegiate career. She tied her season-high in assists and her 14 rebounds were two shy of her career-high.
• Ward posted double figures in the fifth straight game for the Gaels.
• Both Fajardo and Gomez picked up their 10^th double-digit scoring efforts of the season, both are tied for the team lead. 

UP NEXT

The Gaels travel to league leading Fairfield on Saturday, February 1 for 2 p.m. matchup from Leo Mahoney Arena.