Iona Women To Host Harvard in WNIT Contest

Here's another in the series looking at MAAC women's teams in national post-season tournaments.

IONA

The Gaels are headed to the Women's NIT for the second consecutive year. They will be hosting Harvard of the Ivy League Thursday at the Hynes Center in New Rochelle.

Iona's berth in the event was an automatic one, earned by virtue of sharing the MAAC's regular-season championship and holding the No. 1 seed for the league's post-season tournament.

The WNIT is now in its 17th year of operation and has a 64-team field for this season's event. Games will be played up the championship contest on April 5. All games throughout the tournament are at college sites.

Iona enters the contest with a 26-5 overall record, while Harvard is 21-7 overall. The WNIT bid is the third in a row for the Crimson, which has been in the event five of the past six seasons.

Harvard's top scorers are 5-11 senior guard Christine Clark (16.8 points, 4.8 rebounds per game), 6-4 junior center Temi Fagbenle (12.9, 9.4) and 6-1 senior forward Erin McDonnell (8.8, 3.5).

Iona has also been to the WNIT five times in its history.

The Gaels' top players are 5-7 junior guard Damika Martinez, whose 24.7 point-per-game average is eighth-best nationally; and, 5-11 sophomore forward Joy Adams, who averages 17.1 points and 14.1 rebounds per contest.