February 2, 2007 - Iona 64 Rider 59
February 2, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Women’s College Basketball
Iona College 64, Rider University 59
NEW ROCHELLE, NY—It's not a fish story but it will be known as the one that got away. The Broncs took the conference preseason favorites to the limit before falling to Iona in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Friday night. "I thought it was our best effort of the season," said head coach Tori Harrison. "We really competed the whole game."
Trailing 51-47, Iona (14-8, 9-2 MAAC) went on a 9-0 run to take a 56-51 lead with 4:30 left to play. That was the fourth and final lead change of the game. Rider went almost 10 minutes in the second half (9:48) scoring only four points before junior Janele Henderson (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Loughlin) hit a four point play with a three-point field goal and foul shot with 21 seconds left. Henderson finished with 17 points, 14 in the second half, including a career-high four three-point field goals.
"I thought we had an excellent effort tonight," said Henderson. "I feel that we should have had that kind of effort all season. This was a good way to start February and even though we are zero and whatever in the conference, we are going to come after teams with this type of effort for the rest of the season."
"I thought Rider played very well," said Iona head coach Anthony Bazzella. "They took us out of what we wanted to do. We told our team that Rider is better than their record and they haven't had a lot of breaks and tonight was very evident of that. I was impressed with their athleticism and their kids' abilities. They are going to beat some teams down the road."
Trailing 39-33, Rider (1-21, 0-11 MAAC) went on a 15-5 run, seven points by Henderson to take a 48-44 lead with 11:47 left to play.
"We haven't been in that type of close game situation all year," Harrison added. "We took some bad shots down the stretch and maybe if we had been in more games, we could have pulled this one out tonight. We didn't know how to control our energy down the stretch."
Including tonight's game, Rider has had a second half lead three times in 22 games leading a total of 95 out of 880 minutes played this season. The Broncs led the Gaels for 4:06 in the game holding the lead as late as the 8:51 mark of the second half.
For Iona, Lauren DeFalco led the Gaels with 17 points. 6’5” senior Martina Weber added 13 points, and Tiara Headen added 12 points. Iona led 33-29 at the half.
Trailing 22-13, the Broncs went on a 10-0 run, three points by freshman Stephanie Wisniewski (Levittown, Pa./Villa Joseph Marie), to take their first lead of the game, 23-22, with 4:23 left in the first half. Wisniewski finished with six points.
Sophomore Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake) added 10 points and nine rebounds in 29 minutes off the bench for the Broncs.
"I just tried to play my game tonight," said Parker. "I try to bring energy to the floor. I thought the effort was great but it should have been there earlier in the season."
Senior Kara Borel (East Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg) compiled 12 points and five rebounds. Freshman Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun) added eight points off the bench.
"I feel satisfied that we played energized," Parker added. "But I'm not satisfied because we had the lead and the game was winnable and we still didn't win."
Iona jumped out to a 7-0 lead, six points by DeFalco.
The Broncs host Fairfield Sunday at 2:00 pm.
-RU-
