The No. 7 seed Iona College women’s basketball team’s season came to a close on Feb. 2 with a 61-45 loss to No. 2 seed Fairfield in the quarterfinals of the MAAC Championships in Springfield, Mass.

The Gaels came out with a lot of energy to start the game, as a steal and transition layup by junior guard Haley D’Angelo converted the first two points of the game. A layup by freshman guard Aleesha Powell gave Iona what would be their biggest lead of the game, 10-5, with 14:37 remaining in the half.

From there, the Stags went on an 11-0 run led by five points from senior Taryn Johnson, to give Fairfield a 16-10 lead at the 8:15 mark, and they would not give up the lead for the rest of the game. A jumper by Powell with one second remaining cut the Stag lead to seven, as Fairfield was up 29-22 at the half. Iona shot 32 percent (7-22) from the field in the first, including 0-6 from the three-point line, as Fairfield shot 43.5 percent on 10-23 shooting.

“Our defense took some breaks throughout the game,” head coach Anthony Bozzella said. “I think a lot of it attributed to us not making some shots early.”

With the Gaels down 39-27 with 16 minutes left, Fairfield went on a 15-3 run in the next ten minutes of play with six different players contributing to put the game out of reach. Fairfield shot the lights out in the second half, converting 50 percent from the field, as the Gaels struggled throughout the final 20 minutes of play, shooting just 29 percent.

Powell led the Gaels with 18 points, including 10 free throws, as freshman guard Damika Martinez added 12 points. Johnson led all scorers with 19 points, and junior Katelyn Linney had 11 points.

With the season over, Bozzella looks forward to next season.

“I’m excited for the future,” Bozzella said. “We have two of the best players in the conference in Damika Martinez and Aleesha Powell, as well as a natural born leader in Haley D’Angelo.”