Senior Jessica Kemp had the game-winning steal to help Niagara beat Iona Saturday afternoon.

NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, N.Y. – It could have been Jessica Kemp day Saturday at the Gallagher Center.

Kemp, a senior for the Niagara University women’s basketball team, first became the 18th Purple Eagle to score 1,000 or more career points with her first basket of the game and then she stole the ball with 13 seconds remaining to allow Niagara to pick up a 68-67 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference victory.

After Niagara’s Danie Mosca (Baltimore, Md.) missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with 17 seconds to play, Kemp stole the ball from Iona’s Trinette Gooding and Niagara played keepaway to preserve the victory.

Kemp (Niagara Falls, Ont.) finished 15 points, seven rebounds and a season-high five steals.

Iona took a 4-0 lead before Kemp scored on a turnaround jump shot to get Niagara on the board at 18:08. That basket gave Kemp 1,000 career points. Eva Cunningham, who finished with a game-high 20 points, sank a jump shot to give Niagara a 35-26 first-half lead before Iona went on a 10-2 run to cut the Purple Eagles’ lead to 37-36.

Iona kept things going in the second half, scoring the half’s first four points. Senior Colleen Toetz (Parma, Ohio), who scored 19 points, then sank a three-point field goal to tie the game at 40. The teams traded baskets until Kemp hit a three-point field goal and Cunnigham scored after a Iona turnover to give the Purple Eagles a 53-48 lead. A Toetz putback gave Niagara a 58-51 lead before Iona, powered by four Toni Horvath free throws, scored nine-straight points for a 60-58 lead.

Kemp tied the game at 60 with 5:16 to play and Toetz followed that play up with a jumpr shot of her own to give Niagara a 62-60 advantage. Iona’s Meg Abele made a three-point field goal from the corner to give the Gaels a 65-64 lead with 3:44 to play before Mosca drove the lane for a layup and a 66-65 lead. Niagara forced Iona into making back-to-back turnovers, two of the Gaels’ 25 turnovers in the contest.

Mosca then gave the Purple Eagles a 68-65 lead with a jump shot in the lane with 2:02 to play before Horvath hit a running shot in the lane to make it 68-67 with 1:43 to left. Iona was forced to foul, sending Mosca to the lane and setting up Kemp for her fifth and final steal of the game. Horvath led Iona with 16 points while Gooding scored 13 points and had nine rebounds.

Niagara, now 10-6 overall and 4-3 in the MAAC, plays Siena at 7 p.m. Monday at the Gallagher Center.