November 11th, 2016: Stony Brook at Iona

Just the Facts, Ma'am: A third-quarter defensive clampdown was the key to Iona's 57-46 season-opening win against Stony Brook. Alexis Lewis led all scorers with 18 points, adding eight rebounds, while Tori Lesko flirted with a double-double in her debut of 14 points and nine boards. Kori Bayne-Walker had 17 to lead the Seawolves in the loss.

For a quick change, buses, wrestling references, facing down the dreaded, yellow ribbons, a sparkling debut, and numbness, join your intrepid and easily distracted blogger after the jump.
And it's off to Iona for the second half of a day-night double-header that seems set to become a tradition. The Gaels will be hosting Stony Brook in the return match of a home-and-home series, and their first home game since being crowned MAAC champions. Tonight should be the banner-raising, and I am hyped.

It's 4:30 on the 45 bus. We hit our connections like clockwork, so we're already in New Rochelle. The sun is low in the sky, and where there is sunlight, it's a rich gold. We travel in the company of about a dozen high school students, who are loud but not too much trouble otherwise.

Someone please remind me to keep the obstreperous hinge of my laptop taped. It's making it difficult to write notes, and my ankles hurt from keeping my feet up to maintain the proper angle. I'd rather be on point than en pointe.

Overheard on the bus: "Booyaka is a word." They're amusing themselves with a game of telephone, and somehow they went from Rey Mysterio to Ric Flair in seven steps.

Our favorite eatery on North Avenue went out of business (again), so we're trying a new place. So far I like their philosophy, but their quesadillas are mediocre.

If Billi keeps forgetting to put us on the pass list, I'm going to start forgetting where Iona is on my spreadsheet. We were able to get in touch with the director of operations, who knows us, but this is the one team that forgets us the most.

The light bulbs appear to have been changed, or are at least brighter. So vey bright. Unfortunately, the banners face the side opposite the bench, so we're looking at the back of black vinyl from our spots behind the bench.

Y'all. Look, Iona. Y'all have literally one player on the roster from the state of New York. Y'all have more players from Arizona than from the tri-state. You can miss me with this hyped-up NYC connection.

We have a band! With people and everything! And there are more than five of them! We even have a mascot! Looks like all you have to do to get taken kind of seriously at Iona is win the conference tournament and rep the school in the NCAA tournament.

Oh, dear. There's a group of Stony Brook fans in the next section over from us (which is the center court section, to be fair), and when they cheered for their team, the band turned around with various flavors of "WTF" on their faces.

My fingers are still blue, by the way.

I always thought it was "Gold Club" for the Iona boosters, not "Goal Club". You know, because the colors are maroon and gold? Today I learned a thing!

Gorgeous anthem pregame.

At halftime, Stony Brook is up 32-25. Early foul trouble screwed up Iona's rotations, with Treyanna Clay and Marina Lizarazu both picking up two fouls in the first quarter. But we've had other defensive issues, losing both three-point shooters and lane drivers.

And the defense clamped down when we needed it most. Stony Brook had 15 points in the first quarter, and 14 points the entire second half. I think I might be a little in love with Tori Lesko.

Anamaria Skaro attempted the Andrea Stinson weapons of mass distraction approach on defense. It's not quite as effective when one is not quite as blessed in the frontal regions as Stinson was. Her late threes were heaves of desperation. Ayshia Baker saw time late in the game- how late, I can't tell you precisely, since the PA guy never got around to announcing her entry into the game. Ditto for Jerell Matthews, an issue compounded by the fact that I had her number and Kina Smith's number mixed up.

(You know what's really disconcerting? Being on a new bus route in a strange city, next to a dude who has the funk of forty thousand years wafting off of him, with a misbehaving computer on your lap, and having the bus abruptly go dark. Fortunately, it was a momentary issue, nothing more than "have you tried turning it off and on again?")

Kina Smith brought height to the table, and worked on the glass. Giolibeth Perez, whose name did not seem to come with a pronunciation guide, was very fast, but not always in control. Davion Wingate was solid defensively- she had a really nice steal that led to a fast break basket.

Elizabeth Manner wasn't flashy, but whenever Stony Brook needed a basket with the shot clock running down, she got in the lane and she hit that basket. Always gotta watch out for that big girl. Aaliyah Worley was bombing away from deep, and her wild drives were not answered as frequently as her teammates'.

Lauren Williams is one of those people who doesn't believe she fouls. And she fouled out, which should indicate something. What, I don't know. She was one of the people who exploited the baseline that Iona was leaving open. Kori Bayne-Walker, she of the truly epic last name, is a lot quicker than one would think from her frame, and will not be denied on the drive. She hits hard. Christa Scognamiglio, whose name was reversed in my box score and is thus causing me great confusion, brought a large contingent that wanted to see her score, but none of the long jumpers she was taking went down. Her people were very disappointed.

Stony Brook did a good job of scrapping for loose balls, but they couldn't capitalize. I don't have a good angle of the opposing bench from where I sit, but it didn't look like McCombs was getting very animated about this game. I don't know if that's just her or if she doesn't get up for non-conference games, or what.

Philecia Atkins-Gilmore better be hurt or suspended or something, because otherwise there's no good reason for her not to have played in this one. I don't care that her playing would have cost us her singing along with "We Will Rock You", I'd rather have her actually rocking people.

Iida Ahvenainen still needs to get her ass in the weight room. She doesn't do a good job of holding on to the ball, and she doesn't seem to have the strength to hoist a consistent jumper- her first three was very short, and then she was overcompensating on the next couple of shots until one of those high arcers went in. Kristin Mahoney got a few scattered minutes and still looked like a deer in the headlights out there. She's running out of excuses and running out of time. Amelia Motz is still looking for her shot, but at least she's a freshman, you expect that sort of thing out of freshmen.

What you don't expect out of freshmen is the kind of debut Tori Lesko had for the Gaels. I love her hustle. I love her rebounding. I love her screens. I love her putbacks. She reminds me of a young Cathrine Kraayeveld, before Cathrine got addicted to the long ball. She took charges and made play after play. Treyanna Clay got in foul trouble early, and I think that set the tone for her all game. She wasn't as aggressive and assertive as she usually is, but she was making some very good plays at the basket. Karynda DuPree is going to kill me one of these days. I hate when post players are passive, and she always seems so very disconnected from the game when she's not directly involved. I like her shot-blocking, and I'm glad she's finally stopped chucking threes, but she's a senior now. She has to be more of a leader on the floor.

Alexis Lewis's shot took the night off, especially from long range- a strange thing to say about someone who poured in more points than anyone else, but her jumper was wild. She's got a little bit of the same problem Joy Adams had, where the shot rims in and out or takes wild bounces inside the rim. Maybe a little less oomph? Marina Lizarazu has upped the flash factor on her game, which is fun when her teammates catch the passes, or when her offense gets hot in the fourth quarter. It's somewhat less fun when she misses deep threes that she has no real reason to be taking.

I love the defensive intensity this team brings to the table. And I know it's going to be even better when we get Fee back. The rebounding is fantastic. The offensive execution needs work, and I feel like this is the eternal story of my life as a basketball fan. I don't know if they can defend their MAAC title successfully, but I also get the sense this is a down year for the MAAC, so anything can happen. It's exciting.

Officiating could use a little work, especially around the circle.

It was great to have a full band there! MOAR BAND.

So long as we can maintain diplomatic relationships with New Rochelle, and so long as we can find somewhere decent to eat, Iona's going to be high on the list for quite some time.