NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The Iona College women’s basketball team dropped the first game of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge to Yale late Friday night, 48-63.
Senior Joy Adams registered her first double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and junior forward Aurellia Cammock came off the bench and supplied nine points and nine rebounds
The Gaels shot just 29.9% for the game, improving from 25.8% to 33.3% between the first and the second half. The Bulldogs shots 33.9% from the floor, and recorded an Iona-opponent best 25.0% three-point shooting hit-rate.
The motif of the Maroon & Gold season thus far has been runs, both for and against the Gaels. The first true scoring trend of the day spanned from 3:13 of the first, to 5:49 of the second, when Yale outscored the Gaels 11 to four and opened a 23-11 lead.
Iona trailed a by double digits for the majority of the opening 25 minutes until the put together a run that was the best of their young season thus far. Using a nine to two run over a four minute stretch mid-way through the third, the Gaels mustered their way to just a two-p point deficit. Adams and Marina Lizarazu took control the game, but their momentous effort couldn’t get over the hump.
At the most crucial moment of the game, Yale scored five key points in the waning moments of the third quarter with buckets of sophomore Jen Berkowitz and senior Nyasha Sarju. The swing of events and momentum proved to be that catalyst that was too much for Iona to overcome.
The Gaels efforts to complete the comeback came up short in the fourth quarter; the Bulldogs ended the game with a 12 to two run, at one point making their lead as large as seventeen. Adams had seven of Iona’s 15 point in the final frame.
Lizarazu continued her hot start scoring 12 points and recording three rebounds and two assists.
Iona will take to the court Saturday, Nov. 21 against North Carolina for the second game of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Challenge. Tipoff between the Tarheels and Gaels is scheduled for 3 PM.
