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Last Tune-Up
The Niagara Purple Eagles end the regular season on Saturday when they face-off against the Iona Gaels at 2:00 p.m. in the Hynes Athletic Center.

Niagara (13-15, 9-10 MAAC) is coming off a 65-59 loss to the Canisius Golden Griffins. The Purple Eagles have won four of their last six games and have gone 4-3 in the month of February. Overall, Niagara's offense is led by sophomore forward Victoria Rampado and senior guard Meghan McGuinness. Rampado averages a team-high 13.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while McGuinness contributes 12.7 points per contest.

The Gaels (14-14, 11-8 MAAC) and second-year head coach Billi Godsey enter Satuday's matchup with a 2-3 record in their last five games.  They began the MAAC season with a win over Rider before dropping a 75-74 overtime decision to Monmouth. They have a 7-5 home record this season with three losses coming in conference play (Rider, Marist and Quinnipiac).

Overall, Iona is led again this season by Damika Martinez who is scoring a MAAC best 23.9 ppg. Joy Adams, who is averaging a double-double per game, is the complete threat with 14.5 ppg and 12.8 rpg.

The Purple Eagles lost an 83-72 decision to the Gaels earlier this season at the Gallagher Center. Niagara dropped both games in last two season's series. It split the season series in 2011-12 with the win coming on the road by a score of 68-55. That win snapped a 14-game losing streak. Between 1992-2005 the Purple Eagles went 23-5 against the Gaels.

Niagara can finish fifth and secure the final First Round bye in the MAAC Tournament outright with a win against Iona and a Siena loss to Saint Peter's Sunday.
 
How To Tune In

• Purple Eagle fans can follow all of Saturday's action via PurpleEagles.com.  Live stats will be provided as will links to an audio feed and a video feed (both provided through Iona).

 
On The Court
Iona Gaels (9-8, 6-2 MAAC)

• The Gaels are led by Billi Godsey who is in her 2nd year as head coach at Iona.
• Senior guard Damika Martinez is Iona's top scorer, averaging 23.7 points, and pulls down 4.8 rebounds per game
• Junior forward Joy Adams is the Gaels' next leading scorer for Iona. Adams scores 14.5 points per contest and averages a team-high 12.8 rebounds per game.
• Aaliyah Robinson also scores in double figures for the Gaels as she averages 11.3 ppg for Iona.

 
Against the Gaels (Iona leads 27-26)
Last Meeting - January 23, 2015
NIAGARA UNIV., NY – Meghan McGuinness and Victoria Rampado both scored 21 points for the Purple Eagles who came up short against the Iona Gaels 83-72 on Friday night in the Gallagher Center.

Tipoff Tidbits

• Niagara's offense is led by sophomore forward Victoria Rampado (13.0 ppg) and senior guard Meghan McGuinness (12.7 ppg).
• McGuinness has scored at least 10 points in 22 of the last 26 games while Rampado also averages a team-high 6.1 rebounds per game.
• Saturday will mark the 29th game of the season for the Purple Eagles and their 15th contest on the road. NU is 7-7 away from the Gallagher Center and 5-4 against conference opponents on the road.
• NU had a season-high +24 rebound margin in the over Canisius on Feb. 24.
• Niagara's bench has outscored its opponents bench by a combined 367-325 in its 19 conference games.
• NU has an 11-4 record this season when leading at halftime.
• Victoria Rampado is averaging 14.2 ppg in conference match ups while Meghan McGuinness averages 12.9 ppg in MAAC contests.

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A Win On Saturday Would...

• Give Niagara a .500 conference record (10-10).
• Split the season series with the Iona Gaels.
• Tie the all-time series against Iona.

 
Breaking The 600-Point Barrier

• Victoria Rampado scored her 600th career point against Canisius on Feb. 24. She entered the game with 597 points and turned in a 20-point effort to finish the evening with 617 career points.

National Leaders (as of Feb. 27)

• The Purple Eagles rank 86th in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (.93), led by senior point guard Kelly Van Leeuwen (3.74 assist-to-turnover) who ranks 2nd among all players in the country.
• Last season, Van Leeuwen finished 10th in the nation with a 2.91 assist/turnover ratio.
• Niagara also ranks in the top-50 in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (27th), rebound margin (27th), three-point field goal percentage (26th) and assists per game (43rd).
• Meghan McGuinness ranks 11th in the NCAA with a 43.6 three-point field goal percentage.

 
Breaking Records

• On Feb. 24 against Canisius, McGuinness hit two 3-pointers marking her 262rd career 3-pointer which broke the all-time record. Kim Kuhn, who played for Niagara from 1989-93, previously held the record with 261 career three pointers.
• Also on Dec. 30, Kelly Van Leeuwen had six assists for NU which marked her 283rd career assist and broke her into the top-10 for the all-time assist record at Niagara.
• Van Leeuwen then surpassed Kelly Chase, Joanne Lesnau and Kim Kuhn. On Jan. 23 against Iona, the senior guard had a season-high eight assists which placed her seventh in the all-time career assists record with a total of 328 assists. The senior guard now sits one assist away from the sixth all-time career assists spot.

 
Top Of The MAAC (as of Feb. 27)

• The Purple Eagles have two players in the top-10 in the MAAC in points per game.
• Victoria Rampado is ranked 6th with 14.2 ppg while Meghan McGuinness sits in the 9th spot with 12.9 ppg.
• Kelly Van Leeuwen ranks fifth in the conference with 4.8 assists per game.
• McGuinness is fourth in the MAAC with a 44.1 three-point field goal percentage.
• The Purple Eagles are second in the MAAC in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 36.1 percent from the field.
• As a team, Niagara has the fourth best scoring margin within the conference (1.7) and the best rebounding margin (8.8). The Purple Eagles rank third in 3-point FG percentage (36.7 percent/ 101-for-275) and fifth in field goal percentage (41.0 percent/ 442-for-1,079).
• NU additionally ranks fourth in offensive rebounds (13.8 per game) and second in defensive rebounds (28.2 per game).