NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles fell 78-62 to the Iona Gaels at the Hynes Athletic Center on Thursday night.
 
Niagara (8-18; 6-11 MAAC) stayed with Iona (23-3; 16-1 MAAC) throughout the early going. It spent the first nine minutes within a possession or two until the Gaels put together a run that extended the lead to 37-16 with 3:41 left to play. A 7-3 run by Chanel Johnson and Victoria Rampado through the final three minutes brought the score to 40-23 headed into the break.
 
"I was really disappointed in our first half," head coach Kendra Faustin said. "We really wanted to slow the pace since Iona has been really successful with a high pace…and we did a poor job making that adjustment. In the second half we did a much better job playing our game. We got up and down, but obviously they are really talented all around, especially from the three-point line."
 
The run from the first half carried over into the second with the Purple Eagles opening up with 10-3 run that cut the deficit to an even 10 points, 43-33, with just two and a half minutes expired. Kelly Van Leeuwen got things started with a jumper before she and Meghan McGuinness traded three-pointers. NU finished the second half shooting exactly 10 percent better than in the first with a 43.3 percent (13-for-30) showing from the floor.
 
Iona was able to regain control, however, and build the lead back through the final buzzer and the 78-62 win.
 
Rampado led the team with 17 points and seven rebounds. This is the third-consecutive game that the freshman from Niagara Falls, Ont. has led the team in rebounding. Johnson scored 12 points and McGuinness was the third player for Niagara to get into double figures with 11 points.
 
"It's February in the MAAC conference and anything can happen on any night," said Faustin. "Tonight wasn't our night so we're going to move forward and go into Monmouth and be better."
 
The Purple Eagles wrap up the weekend with Saturday's 4:00 p.m. matchup against the Monmouth Hawks that will be broadcast on ESPN3.