Women's Basketball
Tuesday, March 12, 2024 at 10:30 am
No. 8 Rider Broncs (9-20, 6-14 MAAC) vs. No. 9 Iona Gaels (11-18, 6-14 MAAC)
Location: Atlantic City, NJ (Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall)
Tip: 10:30 am
Live Video: ESPN+
Live Audio: 107.7 The Bronc
Live Stats: MAACSports.com
Twitter: @RiderWBB
 
What You Need To Know
- Tuesday's game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
- The Broncs were defeated for the fourth-straight game Saturday at Fairfield in the regular season finale, falling 83-54. Taylor Blunt (Delco, PA/The Peddie School (NJ)[Detroit Mercy]) led the Broncs with a career-high 11 points.
 
- Taylor Langan (Lake Hopatcong, NJ/Jefferson Township[Millersville/Colgate]) was named to the All-MAAC Second Team, earning the 32^nd All-MAAC honor in program history and 20^th under current head coach Lynn Milligan.
 
- Against Iona, Langan scored 12 points, none bigger than her final two, a buzzer beater that broke a 43-43 tie and was featured as the number five play on SportsCenter's Top 10.
 
- Langan also led the Broncs to victory over Iona in the first meeting this season with 25 points and 18 rebounds. The 18 rebounds are the second-most in a game by a MAAC player this season. Combined with 26 points from Makayla Firebaugh (Winchester, VA/James Wood), the duo was the first Bronc pair to score 20+ in a game since Lenaejha Evans (30) and Raphaela Toussaint (23) at Niagara in January 2022 and the first Rider duo to score 25+ in a contest since Stella Johnson (35) and Amari Johnson (28) against Mount St. Mary's in November 2018. Langan ranks fourth in the MAAC in scoring at 14.1 points per game this season and third in the MAAC at 8.4 rebounds per contest.
 
- Taylor Langan scored 20 points against Quinnipiac, including the 1,000th point of her career. The Graduate Student now has 1,102 collegiate points with 252 at Colgate, 476 at Millersville, and 374 at Rider.
 
- Firebaugh scored a then season-high 23 points after starting 4-for-4 from distance against FDU, scoring 12 points in the opening quarter. Her six made threes in the game tied a career high and moved her past Stella Johnson into fifth on Rider's career three-pointers made list. Firebaugh passed both Kamila Hoskova and Jennifer Feeney for eighth on Rider's all-time scoring list in the first meeting against Saint Peter's.
 
- Rider was picked to finish tenth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Broncs return just two starters and only five members of last year's team.
 
- The Broncs finished eighth in the MAAC regular season standings for the third time in program history, and the first time since the 2001-02 season. The Broncs also faced ninth-seeded Iona that season, falling 55-52 to the Gaels. The only other previous team to earn the eight seed was the 1997-98 team in Rider's first season in the MAAC. The Broncs defeated ninth-seeded Marist, 75-56, before falling to top-seeded Siena, 98-79.
- Rider has made the MAAC Semifinals in five of the last seven seasons. The Broncs were named MAAC Champions for 2019-20 for the first time in program history.
 
- Over two-thirds of Jessika Schiffer's (Iserlohn, Germany/Deutschhaus Gymnasium Würzburg). shots at Rider (492-715) have come from three-point range. Her six made threes against Quinnipiac in 2021-22 are tied for the fifth-most in a game in program history. Against Saint Peter's, she made a trio of threes to move past Mere Eberspeacher for seventh on the program's career three-pointers made list.
 
- Sofie Bruintjes (Zwolle, The Netherlands/CTO Amsterdam) made her first two career starts in the MAAC Tournament last season. She responded with six points, six rebounds, and two blocks in the win over Marist. In Rider's win over BU, Bruintjes hit a go-ahead three-pointer with 3.3 seconds remaining.
 
- Kaylan Deveney (Medford, NJ/Life Center Academy) made the start in her Rider debut at Saint Joseph's, scoring seven points and grabbing a board in 21 minutes of action. Deveney is the first true freshman to start in her Rider debut since Stella Johnson earned the start to begin her career in 2016. The freshman set a career-high with 14 points against Canisius and tied it against Niagara.
 
- Sanaa Redmond (Philadelphia, PA/The Shipley School[Samford]) leads the Broncs at 2.5 assists per game and has led the Broncs in dimes in 11 contests. Redmond has also valued ball security, holding a 1.2 assist to turnover ratio.
 
- The Broncs have been at their best when their defense has been on point. Rider is unbeaten this season when allowing under 60 points, going 6-0 in those games.
 
- Aliya McIver (White Plains, NY/White Plains) set career-highs with seven points against Mount St. Mary's. The freshman set a new career-high with five assists against Manhattan and tied that mark against Niagara.
 
- Mariona Cos-Morales (Matadepera, Spain/IES Matadepera[Casper College]) set a career-high with 14 points against Marist. The junior scored nine of her 14 in the third quarter, which saw Rider turn a six-point deficit into a three-point lead.
 
- The Broncs went on a 26-0 run spanning the first and second quarter against Saint Peter's. During the run, Firebaugh led the Broncs, scoring seven points. Langan and Deveney each added five. Redmond scored four, Schiffer scored three, and Cos-Morales had two during the rally. The 26-straight points are tied for the second-longest known run in the country this season behind only a 28-0 run by South Carolina.
 
- Iona leads the all-time series 34-26, but the Broncs swept the season series this year. The second meeting this season, at Iona on ESPNU became an instant classic when Langan's turnaround jumper bounced high of the rim before sinking through the net after the buzzer sounded to give the Broncs the win. The Broncs and Gaels are no strangers to the early morning MAAC Tournament game, squaring off in the same game in 2022 when the eighth-seeded Gaels defeated the ninth-seeded Broncs, 74-58.
 
- The Gaels finished the season tied with the Broncs at 6-14 in MAAC games, but earned the nine seed by virtue of tiebreak due to Rider's season sweep. The Gaels are led by Third-Team All-MAAC selection Sierra DeAngelo, who leads the Gaels at 11.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per contest.