NEW ROCHELLE, NY —The Iona University women's basketball team concluded the home portion of the 2024-25 schedule on Saturday afternoon, falling to Canisius 53-48 at the Hynes Athletic Center.
 
Prior to the game the Maroon & Gold recognized its graduating senior class in practice player Ryan Murphy, team manager Courtney Corbett and graduating seniors Talia DePetrillo, Judith Gomez and Erin Leary for Senior Day.
 
Leary recorded a game-high 12 points and nine rebounds against the Golden Griffins. Gomez also finished in double figures with 10 points. DePetrillo dished out three assists and had a game-high three steals.

THE RUNDOWN

Iona raced out to a 10-3 start at the Hynes Center paced by eight points from Gomez in her final home game. Canisius broke up the opening Iona run with a driving layup with 3:34 to go in the first quarter. Iona continued to pour it on from there as Gomez, Leary, sophomore Mya Zaccagnini and rookie Chloe Vasquez all chipped in points in an 8-0 closing stretch to give Iona the 18-5 lead at quarters end.
 
The Gaels continued to hold serve as the second quarter got underway. A pair of free throws from Vasquez kept Iona's lead at 13 with 7:48 to go in the frame. Canisius started to mount its attack from there with a 12-2 run over the next 5:10 to cut the deficit to three, 22-19 with 2:02 left in the quarter. A driving layup from Vasquez cut into the Golden Griffins run and ended a nearly four-minute scoring drought from Iona. Junior Ale Civera made two free throws in the final seconds to give the Gaels a 26-19 lead at halftime.
 
An 8-1 start to the third quarter by the Golden Griffins to start the third quarter knotted the game up at 27-27 at the 5:22 mark, forcing Iona to call timeout. The Gaels answered out of the timeout as sophomore Zoey Ward connected on a stepback jumper to take back the lead. It was back and forth for the final five minutes as the game saw back and forth action with one more tie and three lead changes. Iona built its lead back to two on a pullup jumper from Leary with 47 seconds to go before Canisius ended the frame with a pair of free throws with .6 seconds left to bring the score to 38-38.
 
The two sides continued to trade shots at the lead as the final stanza began. Iona created a little separation on layups from Leary and Ward to take a 46-43 advantage, but Canisius was there to answer with a knockdown triple. Another three-pointer followed for the Golden Griffins to take back a three-point lead with 4:08 to go. Another Ward layup cut the deficit down to one with 1:22 to go. Canisius held Iona scoreless on four shot attempts down the stretch and went 4-of-6 from the line to walk away with the win and season series sweep.  

IONA PERFORMERS

• Leary led the Gaels with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting to go with a team-high 12 points.
• Gomez totaled 10 points along with four rebounds and a block.
• Ward added eight points and six rebounds.
• Zaccagnini added seven points and a team-high three assists.
• DePetrillo also dished out a team-high three assists to go with a game-high three steals.

THE OPPONENT

• The Golden Griffins had three scorers finish in double figures, led by 11 points from Mariam Sanogo.
• Jaela Johnson and Shariah Gailes both recorded 10 points.
• Franka Wittenberg recorded nine points and nine rebounds for the Golden Griffins.

TEAM STATS

• Canisius out shot Iona 38.3% to 27.9% from the field.
• The Golden Griffins made five triples at 35.7% while the Gaels made just three-three pointers at a 14.3% rate.
• Canisius held a 39-32 advantage on the glass.
• The Gaels scored 22 points off 20 Canisius turnovers while the Golden Griffins scored just six points off 11 turnovers.

UP NEXT

The Gaels are on a bye date on Thursday and will conclude the 2024-25 regular season on Saturday, March 8 with a trip to Sacred Heart for a 2 p.m. matchup at the Pitt Center.