Relentless defense and timely buckets guided the Iona College women’s basketball team to an impressive 58-44 victory over the conference-leading Quinnipiac on Saturday afternoon.

 Iona (13-8, 8-4 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) earned a season-high fourth straight win in a highly anticipated defensive struggle. Quinnipiac (17-5, 10-2 MAAC) shot just 2-19 from beyond the arc and 10-25 from the free-throw line. The Bobcats came into Saturday leading the MAAC in scoring offense and defense.

 “Quinnipiac is an incredible team. They do a good job of getting into what they wanna do,” Gaels head coach Billi Godsey said. “I think we did a very good job of staying together, and going out and battling and trying to grind out a win, so I’m proud of our girls for their effort today.”

 Iona played a nearly perfect first half, outscoring the Bobcats 29-13 after the first 20 minutes. Sophomore guard Alexis Lewis single-handily beat Quinnipiac in the first half. She scored 15 of her 22 points and had 12 of her game-high 15 rebounds by halftime. Before stepping on the floor in the third quarter she had already recorded her seventh double-double of the season.

 “My rebounding is the one thing that fuels our team and gets us going,” Lewis said. “So I did my best to stay on the boards.”

 The Gaels contested shots all afternoon long, holding Quinnipiac to 0-10 from three-point range in the first 20 minutes.

 The Bobcats came out with a higher sense of urgency in the third quarter, but still only outscored Iona 13-9 and carried a 38-26 deficit into the fourth quarter.

 Foul trouble had both coaches digging into their benches, and it got the best of Iona as Lewis and freshman guard Tori Lesko both fouled out midway through the final quarter.

 Senior guard Marina Lizarazu carried the Gaels on offense in the second half, especially the fourth quarter. She hit a variety of pull-up jump shots deep in the shot clock to prevent a Quinnipiac comeback. The MAAC Preseason Player of the Year scored 14 of her game-high 24 in the second half to keep the Bobcats at bay.

 “I knew we needed to score and I was just trying to stay focused,” Lizarazu said.

 Iona has been a good rebounding team all season and that didn’t change this afternoon as they outrebounded Quinnipiac 46-37. They also hit eight more free-throws despite shooting just one more (18-26).

 The Maroon & Gold will play two sub .500 teams in a row on the road, Niagara and Canisius, before coming home to host Rider on Feb. 10 in a battle for second place.

 “We’re starting to gel, we’re starting to put the pieces together and work in the right direction,” Godsey said smiling. “I think we’re starting to move in the right direction and let’s hope it continues to grow.”