Women's College Basketball
Iona College 59, Rider University 46
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y.—The Iona College Gaels used a 12-0 run to start the fourth quarter, defeating the Rider University women's basketball team, 59-46 in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game on Friday night.

“That's two games we had the lead going into the fourth quarter and didn't get the job done,” said head coach Lynn Milligan.  “For 30 minutes, we were on point defensively.  We can't get mentally fatigued if things don't go our way.”

For Rider (2-4, 0-1 MAAC) junior Robin Perkins (Willingboro/Trenton Catholic) had 19 points with junior Taylor Wentzel (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) scoring a career-high 11 points.

“Taylor struggled in the Army game and took that to heart,” Milligan said.  “We broke down the film and looked for areas where she could get better shots and then she got into the gym and worked hard the last few days and you saw results of that tonight.”

Iona was led by 19 points from Marina Lizarazu with Aaliyah Robinson scoring 17 off the bench for the Gaels.

The opening quarter was a defensive battle with four ties and three lead changes.  Perkins scored eight of Rider's 10 points and the Broncs trailed 11-10 after one period.

Trailing 13-10, sophomore Kamila Hoskova (Czech Republic) hit a three-pointer to tie the game with 6:23 left before the half.  Hoskova finished with those three points in eight minutes off the bench.

Iona (3-5, 2-0 MAAC) led 19-15 at intermission.

Rider opened the second half on a 6-0 run, four points by Perkins and two points from Wentzel as the Broncs went back into the lead 21-19, two minutes into the third quarter.

Trailing 30-27, Rider out-scored Iona 7-3, five points by Wentzel as the Broncs ended the third quarter leading 34-33.

Rider was held without a field goal for the first 6:37 of the final period and had only three field goals in the fourth quarter as the Gaels made their run.

“We have to work just a little harder to get the shots we want on offense while continuing to get stops on the defensive end,” Milligan added.  “Holding a team to 33 points heading into the final quarter, we did what we wanted to do defensively.  We just need to play a full 40 minutes.  It was a game for the taking.”

The Gaels began the fourth quarter making four of five shots with Rider committing four turnovers in the opening five posessions of the final period.

Iona shot 7-10 from three-point range in the second half after going 1-11 from long range in the opening 20 minutes and the Gaels shot 41 percent (20-49) for the game overall to 17-51 (33 percent) for the Broncs.

The Gaels held a 34-31 rebounding advantage.

This was the 41st meeting between the teams with Iona improving to 26-15 against Rider.  The teams split two MAAC games last season with Rider winning in overtime, 85-81 in New Rochelle.

After opening the season 2-0, Rider has lost four straight.

The Broncs are back in action on Sunday in a MAAC game against Canisius College at 2pm in Alumni Gymnasium.

-RU-