ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – The Rider University women's basketball team used a complete team effort and dominant fourth quarter to defeat Iona, 66-56, in the opening round of the MAAC Tournament Tuesday morning. The eighth-seeded Broncs improve to 10-20 with the victory, while the ninth-seeded Gaels close out the year at 11-19.
 
Trailing 5-4, Molly Lynch (Sea Girt, NJ/Rutgers Prep) drained a three to start a 7-0 Rider run. After the Gaels stormed back to take a 16-15 lead, back-to-back threes by Jessika Schiffer (Iserlohn, Germany/Deutschhaus Gymnasium Würzburg[Buffalo]) had Rider in front, 21-16, after ten minutes.
 
Both defenses tightened in the second, but a 9-2 Iona run midway through the quarter helped the Gaels take a 31-29 lead into the half.
 
Iona extended the lead to 39-31 before Aliya McIver (White Plains, NY/White Plains) scored four points during an 8-0 Rider run that tied the game and the third quarter finished 41-41.
 
Leading 45-43 early in the fourth, Sanaa Redmond (Philadelphia, PA/The Shipley School[Samford]) converted an old fashioned three-point play, then Rider got buckets from Lynch and Mariona Cos-Morales (Matadepera, Spain/IES Matadepera[Casper College]), and Taylor Langan (Lake Hopatcong, NJ/Jefferson Twp.[Colgate/Millersville]) made a pair of free throws to extend the run to 9-0 and the lead to 54-43 as the Broncs took control of the game. The Broncs held the Gaels to just one field goal over the final four and a half minutes to secure the victory.
 
Quotes & Notes
"Excited about the outcome of the game, but more excited about how we won that game. That was a complete team effort on both sides of the ball for pretty close to 40 minutes, and that is something that we've been talking about and working on. We're really proud of how we did it."
 
"It was clear today that we were really locked in on what we needed to do. We felt like if we were able to carry out our game plan for 40 minutes that we would be able to have another opportunity to play." – Head Coach Lynn Milligan
 
"We just kind of said, right now its 0-0. This season, it comes down to 10 minutes. We're not up 15, we're not down 15. The game just basically restarted, and we played them for the third time, we knew exactly what they were going to do, they knew exactly what we were going to do, so just came down to working harder and having a better mentality." – Graduate Guard Taylor Langan
 
"All of all seniors, it was the last 10 minutes for them if we lost. We just had a team mentality. We didn't care how it happened, who scored. We did what we had to to lock in one last time." – Junior Guard Sanaa Redmond
 
 
- Rider wins their third game over Iona this season, trimming Iona's lead in the all-time series to 34-27.
- Redmond and Langan each scored 13 points to lead the Broncs. It was Langan's team-leading 22^nd game in double figures, while Redmond reached double digits for the third time this season.
- Lynch and Cos-Morales each added 10 points, reaching double digits for the third and second time this season, respectively.
- Rider improves to 8-0 this season when holding their opponent under 60 points.

Broncs By The Numbers
- Rider shot 50.9% (27-53) from the field, and 28.6% (4-14) from three, and the Gaels shot 36.5% (19-52) from the field and 25.0% (4-16) from three.
- The Broncs had 18 assists on their 27 made baskets, led by four each from Redmond and Langan.
- Rider was outrebounded by Iona, 33-28, including a 13-8 advantage for the Gaels on the offensive glass. Langan led Rider with seven rebounds.
 
Up Next
- Rider advances to the quarterfinals of the MAAC Tournament and will face top-seeded and 25^th-ranked Fairfield Wednesday at 1 p.m.