LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ – The Rider University women's basketball team got its second-straight victory Thursday night, topping Iona 63-57 in Alumni Gym. The Broncs improve to 4-8 overall on the season, and 1-2 in league play. The Gaels drop to 5-6 overall and 0-2 in MAAC games.
 
After falling behind 9-6 to begin the game, the Broncs stormed ahead with an 8-0, including six points by Taylor Langan (Lake Hopatcong, NJ/Jefferson Township[Colgate/Millersville]), taking a 17-11 lead after the opening quarter.
 
In the second, Langan and Makayla Firebaugh (Winchester, VA/James Wood) continued to heat up as the duo scored all 10 points in the quarter for Rider, building a 27-19 lead, but the Gaels closed out the half with a 6-0 run to trim the Rider lead to just 27-25 at the break.
 
After a Langan layup to begin the second half, Iona answered with a 9-2 run to take a 34-31 lead. Trailing 38-34, Firebaugh scored five points during an 8-1 run that helped the Broncs take a 42-40 edge into the final 10 minutes.
 
The Gaels would score the first five points of the fourth quarter to take the lead, and would tie their largest lead of the game minutes later at 50-46 with 5:14 to play. Rider then clamped down defensively, not allowing another point until there were under 30 seconds to play, using a 13-0 run, with seven points coming from Firebaugh to secure the victory.
 
Quotes & Notes
"Any MAAC win is a great win. We're excited that we got a win at home and we started off the new year strong. You're starting to see some of these blocks that we've been building. I'm proud of the effort that we had today. We had the dynamic duo tonight, and they took care of business."
 
"I don't like to say anything is a must-win, but we needed that. We didn't feel good about our two [MAAC] games in December. So to have another home game right away as your next MAAC game, it was critical for us to find a way to win this game."
 
"I've known Taylor since she was 17 years old. She wants to win, she came here to win, and she's only with us for one year. She does a great job translating that to her teammates."  – Head coach Lynn Milligan
 
"Coming off of playing Lehigh, who shoots even more threes than Iona, helped us prepare for another team that shoots threes. We put a big emphasis this year on defense and we're slowly getting to where we want to be. Our defense isn't perfect, but you can see, we're making little adjustments and having those adjustments peak at the right moments can help us in the long run."  – Graduate Guard Taylor Langan
 
"We've been here since July, and ever since Virginia, something just clicked for us. Our mentality changed, and we all just came to a point and goal where we all just want to win."
 
"[MAAC games] are always a fight to the end. Even if you're up 10, the last minute will always be a dogfight to the very end of the clock."  – Senior Guard Makayla Firebaugh
 
- Rider snaps a seven-game Iona winning streak in the series and trails 34-25.
- Langan finished with her third-straight double-double, scoring 25 points and adding a career-high 18 rebounds.
- Firebaugh moved past Leanne Moore for 12^th on the program's all-time scoring list, now sitting with 1,177 for her career. She scored in double figures for the fifth time this season, scoring a game-high 26.

Broncs By The Numbers
- Rider shot 39.3% (22-56) from the field, and 35.3% (6-17) from three, and the Gaels shot just 32.4% (22-68) from the field and 17.4% (4-23) from three.
- The Broncs had 12 assists on their 22 made baskets, led by four from Sanaa Redmond (Philadelphia, PA/The Shipley School[Samford]).
- Rider won the rebounding battle, 41-39, but Iona had 11 offensive boards to Rider's seven.
- Mariona Cos-Morales (Matadepera, Spain/IES Matadepera[Casper College]) had a career-high five blocks in the win.
 
Up Next
- Rider returns to action next Thursday when the Broncs visit Marist for a 7 p.m. tip.