NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona College women’s basketball team suffered a 79-72 setback to Quinnipiac Sunday afternoon at the Hynes Center. Even at 58 with 8:19 left in the second half, the Bobcats went on a 14-0 run to push the game in their favor for good.
Senior guard Damika Martinez scored a game high 29 points in the contest, to go along with five rebounds. Martinez, honored prior to the game for becoming the MAAC all-time leading scorer this past Friday at Marist, has now scored 2,507 points in her career, 57th most in Division I history.
Junior forward Joy Adams collected her 16th double-double of the season with 17 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, while also contributing three assists and five steals.
Junior guard Aaliyah Robinson scored 11 points and filled out the stat sheet with seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
Sophomore guard Marina Lizarazu was the fourth Gael in double figures, finishing with 13 points to go along with seven assists. Lizarazu has tallied 162 assists in her first season with Iona, setting a new single-season program record.
In the early first half, the teams traded 7 lead changes and the score was tied two times. With the score even at 20 with 9:48 remaining in the period, an 11-0 run by the Gaels pushed the contest in Iona’s favor, 31-20, on a layup by sophomore Aurellia Cammock with 5:29 left in the stanza.
Quinnipiac ended the half on a 11-4 charge of its own, trimming the deficit to four, 35-31 just before halftime on a layup by Nikoline Ostergaard.
The Bobcats scored the first three points of the second half, and then moved ahead 39-37 on a layup by Val Driscoll. Trailing 42-40, Iona answered with nine straight, and grabbed a 49-42 advantage on a layup by Lizarazu.
Trailing 56-52 with 11:11 on the clock, the Bobcats evened the game at 58 with 8:19 left on another Driscoll layup, and then scored the next 14 points of the game. A free throw by Gillian Abshire push the Quinnipiac lead to 72-58 with 1:23 remaining.
The Gaels were able to get within six, 75-69, with 33 seconds on the clock, but came up short on an attempt to cut the contest to a one possession game. The Bobcats connected on their final four attempts from the field to grab a ten-point lead before Lizarazu ended the day’s scoring with a three-pointer with eight seconds remaining.
Overall, Iona outshot Quinnipiac 40.3% to 36.6%, including 42.1% to 28.0% from behind the arc. The Bobcats held a 20-10 advantage on points from the charity stripe, and had just 14 turnovers to the Gaels’ 21.
Driscoll led Quinnipiac with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Iona resumes league action Thursday when it welcomes Fairfield for a 7:00 pm tip.