Dec. 20, 2005

Box Score

STATEN ISLAND, NY - Iona held off a late Seahawk rally earlier tonight at the Spiro Sports Center, defeating Wagner 67-58. With the win the Gaels ends their five-game losing streak and improve to 3-5 while the Seahawks remain winless at 0-8.

Down 62-49 with 3:57 to go in the game Wagner went on a 7-0 spurt over the next 2:11 to cut the lead to six at 62-56 with 1:46 remaining, culminating with a Jessie Collins (Crofton, MD / Arundel) three pointer. Wagner then got the ball back following a missed jumper by Iona and was in position to cut the lead to three but senior guard Joy Gallagher's (Hazleton, PA / Hazleton) three-point attempt fell short. The Gaels then hit three free throws to extend the lead back to nine on their way to a 67-58 win.

Iona came out of the gates red-hot in the first half, jumping out to an early 19-8 lead on their way to a 33-19 halftime lead.

The combination of sophomore guard Chelsey Bunyer (Shannon, IL / Eastland) and Gallagher again led the way for Wagner scoring 41 of the Seahawks' 58 points. Bunyer paced the Seahawks in scoring for the fourth time this season with 23 points, on 9-16 shooting, to go along with six rebounds and three assists while Gallagher hit for 18 points, on 6-12 shooting, with four assists.

Collins had a solid all-around game with a team-high eight rebounds and seven assists against only two turnovers in 32 minutes of action.

Wagner shot 40.7 percent (22-54) from the floor for the game, including 13-28 in the second half, while the Gaels hit at a 39.7-percent clip (25-63). Despite being outshot by the Seahawks, Iona dominated the paint outscoring the Seahawks 32-16.

Iona was led by Martina Weber who had a team-high 17 points.

The Green & White are now off eight days for the holidays before returning to action at Providence on Dec. 28 at 7 pm.