NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona University women's basketball team saw its five-game winning streak come to an end on Saturday night, falling in its non-conference finale to Dartmouth, 65-57. The Big Green used a big first quarter start at the Hynes Center and held the Gaels at bay to take the first matchup between the two schools in 21 years.
 
The Maroon & Gold cap non-conference play with a 7-3 mark, its most non-conference wins since the 2013-14 season. Iona's offense was led by junior Mya Zaccagnini who registered a game-high and career-high 20 points on six made three-pointers. Junior Zoey Ward tallied 18 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Graduate student Ella Fajardo chipped in seven points and a season-high seven assists.

THE RUNDOWN

Dartmouth jumped out in front right off the opening tip with the first four points of the game. Iona countered with an 8-3 spurt led by a pair of buckets from Ward, a fast break layup by Zaccagnini and two free throws from graduate student Isabellah Middleton to take an 8-7 lead with 6:20 left. The rest of the quarter was controlled by the visitors with a 13-3 closing run to take a 20-11 lead.
 
The Big Green carried things over with an opening triple to set the tone. From there Iona was led by the junior duo of Ward and Zaccagnini the next 6:36 of game play as both chipped in six points each on the 12-6 run to make it a six-point game. Dartmouth would get the last punch with back-to-back layups to take a 33-23 halftime lead.
 
Iona looked to rally out of the intermission as an opening layup from Ward jumpstarted a 12-5 run. Zaccagnini chipped in a pair of knockdown triples in that run and graduate student Yannie Chan recorded her first career points as a Gael and made it a three-point game 38-35 on a layup with 3:49 to go. Dartmouth countered shortly thereafter with an 11-1 spurt to take its largest lead of the game 49-36 with 1:11 left in the quarter. Iona used a 5-2 closing stretch on a triple from Fajardo and a layup at the buzzer by junior Claudia Fiel to make it a 10-point game heading into the final frame.
 
Dartmouth held the Gaels at a distance to start the fourth quarter with a slight 7-6 margin for the home side through the first five minutes. Iona looked to make one final run as another three-pointer from Zaccagnini kicked off a 7-2 stretch. A pair of free throws from Middleton made it a four-point game with 1:17 left to play. The Big Green would hang on six a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line to take the matchup 65-57.

IONA PERFORMERS

• Zaccagnini registered a career-night going 7-of-13 from the field and a 6-for-9 mark from downtown for her first 20-point performance. She added two rebounds and a blocked shot.
• Ward recorded her fifth straight double-digit scoring effort going 7-of-12 from the field. She tallied a team-high seven rebounds along with two steals and a blocked shot.
• Fajardo dished out a season-high seven assists to pair with seven points and four rebounds.

THE OPPONENT

• Dartmouth had four scorers in double figures led by 14 points from Zeynep Ozel who also recorded seven rebounds and four assists.
• Alexandra Eldredge registered 11 points and registered a game-high four steals.
• Olivia Austin chipped in 11 points and Clare Meyer added 10 points.
• Cate MacDonald added a team-high eight rebounds and four blocks to go with nine rebounds.

TEAM STATS

• Dartmouth shot 46.2% from the field while Iona shot 36.4% as a team.
• The Big Green also shot 46.2% from downtown with six made three-pointers and the Gaels made a season-high nine triples on a 37.5% clip.
• Dartmouth commanded the glass with 39 rebounds and holding Iona to a season-low 25 rebounds.
• The Gaels committed a season-low nine turnovers while forcing 13 Dartmouth turnovers.

UP NEXT

It's Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play the rest of the way for the Gaels. The team opens its 20-game league fixture on Friday, December 19 at the Hynes Center with a 6 p.m. showdown against Sacred Heart.