MAAC 2012 Women's Basketball Championship Bracket
Springfield, Mass. - The seventh seeded Iona College women's basketball team advanced to the
quarterfinals of the 2012 MAAC Championship with a thrilling 61-60
overtime win over tenth seeded Rider Thursday afternoon at the
MassMutual Center.
The Gaels struggled throughout the first half, with their first bucket coming at the 13:50 mark on a layup by freshman guard Aleesha Powell. Rider's Emily Fazzini's jumper at 4:19 gave the Broncs their biggest lead of the half at 23-10. Freshman guard Damika Martinez
knocked down a jumper with one second remaining to cut the Rider lead
to 25-14 at the half. Iona shot just 20.0% (6-30) in the first half,
while the Broncs shot 38.5% (10-26) in the first twenty minutes of play.
After Rider opened its scoring in the second half with a free throw by
Fazzini, the Gaels went on a 21-1 run behind 21 points from Martinez to
take a 35-27 lead with 9:57 remaining. A pair of free throws by
Martinez gave Iona its biggest lead of the contest, 44-34, with 5:20
left.
From there, a three point by Kornelija Valiuskyte capped a 10-1 run by
Rider to cut the Iona lead to just one, 45-44, with 2:44 remaining.
After an offensive putback by Carleigh Brown, Powell converted a
three-point play to give the Gaels a four point lead with 41 seconds
left.
Brown converted another putback to cut the lead to just two. From
there, Rider fouled Powell to send her to the line for two shots.
After Powell missed both shots from the charity stripe, Brown grabbed
the rebound and gave it to Fazzini who missed a layup with two seconds
left, but MyNeshia McKenzie followed the miss and recorded a putback
layup as time expired to send the game to overtime.
The Broncs drew first blood in the overtime with a layup by Caitlin
Bopp, but was balanced out by three free throws by Powell within the
next minute. Two more putbcks by Brown gave the Broncs a 60-56 lead
with 1:36 remaining in the game.
Martinez cut the Rider lead to just two after a converted layup at the
1:06 mark. After Martinez missed a layup on the next Iona possession,
junior guard Diana Hubbard grabbed the offensive board to keep the Gaels alive with 18 seconds remaining as Iona called a timeout.
Out of the timeout, Powell drove to the basket was fouled by Brown,
sending her back to the line with an opportunity to tie the game.
After Powell made the first, she missed the second and fouled Fazzini
with 16 seconds left with the Gaels down one. Fazzini missed the front
end of a one and one and Powell went coast to coast and converted a
layup with two seconds left to send the Gaels to the next round.
Powell led all scorers with 22 points, including 12 from the foul line.
Martinez added 19 points and six rebounds. Brown led the Broncs with
14 points and Bopp recorded a double-double with 12 points and 13
rebounds.
The Gaels look to advance to the semifinals Friday morning when they take on second seeded Fairfield at 9:30 am.