Thursday, January 30, 2025 | 6:00 PM
Hynes Athletic Center | New Rochelle, NY
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NEW ROCHELLE, NY - Manhattan looks to get back to its winning ways after a pair of losses to Fairfield and Mount St. Mary's respectively. The Jaspers were without junior guard Nitzan Amar, who sustained a lower-body injury on Thursday, January 23 at Fairfield. She did not play against Mount on Saturday. Stepping up for Manhattan against the Mountaineers, was sophomore Tegan Young, who logged a career high 23 points in her absence. Additionally, Young made her fourth start this season in Amar's stead. This season, the Jaspers have been very selfless with the basketball, but when trailing its opponents in assists, it has fallen to 0-5 on the season. Against Iona, the Jaspers have taken the last two meetings by a combined 18 points both in New Rochelle and Riverdale. Last January, then-senior forward Ines Gimenez-Monserrat set a career-high in shots attempted in a game with 17.
Scouting the Opposition:
•The Iona Gaels currently sit sixth in the MAAC, one game over .500 in conference play through nine total games.
•Iona is led by second-year head coach Angelika Szumilo. The LIU graduate began her coaching career at the now-defunct LIU Brooklyn campus, and was most recently the head coach of the Northeast Conferences' FDU Knights women's basketball program.
•In the 2024-25 MAAC Preseason Coaches Poll released this past October, the Gaels were selected to finish eighth out of 13 total teams in the league.
•Sophomore forward Zoey Ward leads the Gaels in scoring averaging 9.6 PPG.
•Senior guard Ella Fajardo is the second leading scorer for the Gaels. Fajardo was a transfer from FDU, and played for Szumilo in Teaneck.
•The Gaels are coming off an 11-point loss against the Siena Saints on Saturday, January 25 inside the UHY Center in Loudonville. It was Fajardo and Ward who led the team with a combined 24 points.
•Senior guard Judith Gomez sits third in the MAAC averaging 41.3 percent from three-point range. Gomez sits behind Mount's LeMaster and Quinnipiac's Grisdale, respectively.
•Senior forward Erin Leary leads the MAAC in blocked shots with 39, and averages 2.1 per-game, just .3 higher than Manhattan's Leyla Ozturk, who sits with 33 on the year.
Last Five Meetings:
Iona Leads 3-2
3/09/24.................................MAN 66-56
1/27/24..................................MAN 64-56
3/11/23...................................IONA 73-60
2/23/23.................................IONA 59-53
1/28/23..................................IONA 63-49