CHARLESTON, SC— The Iona University women's basketball team suffered its first defeat of the season on Friday evening, falling to CAA Preseason favorite College of Charleston, 75-44 at TD Arena.
Junior
Zoey Ward led the Maroon & Gold with a team-high 14 points to pair with six rebounds. Senior
Ale Civera tallied eight points to go with six rebounds and a team-high two steals. Junior
Claudia Fiel posted a team-high three assists.
THE RUNDOWN
Charleston opened the game capitalizing at the charity stripe. Iona responded with a layup by junior
Zoey Ward for its first points of the contest. The high tempo Cougars then used a 9-0 run to take control of the game. A turnaround basket by Middleton broke up the run briefly. Charleston used a 16-4 closing run to take a 21 point lead a quarters end.
The Cougars continued to push the pace in the second stanza, outshooting the Gaels 50% to 23% in the period. Civera led Iona with five points in the second quarter.
Iona showed fight out of the halftime break with a 7-2 opening run paced by five points from Zaccagnini to prompt Charleston to call time out. It was a back-and-forth frame from there with the Gaels outscoring the Cougars 16-15 in the frame.
Charleston continued to cruise in the final stanza, holding a 14-12 margin for the frame to take the wire-to-wire victory to earn the second straight win over the Maroon & Gold.
IONA PERFORMERS
- Ward posted a season-high 14 points and grabbed a season-high six rebounds.
- Civera recorded a season-high eight points to go with six rebounds.
- Fiel dished out a team-high three assists.
THE OPPONENT
- Taryn Barbot registered a game-high 31 points on 11 made field goals and a 7-of-8 mark from the foul line. She also tallied five rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
- Taylor Barbot recorded 14 points along with a game-high nine assists, six rebounds and two steals.
- Grace Ezebilo grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds for the Cougars.
TEAM STATS
- Charleston shot 47.6% while the Gaels were held to a 29.0% field goal percentage
- Both teams struggled from distance as the Cougars shot 20% with four made triples and the Gaels shot 16.7% with three made three-pointers.
- Charleston commanded the glass with a 45-36 advantage on rebounds.
- The Cougars committed 10 turnovers while the Gaels totaled 13 turnovers.
UP NEXT
Iona caps the weekend down south with a trip to Davidson for the first time on Sunday, November 16 for a 1 PM contest from Belk Arena.