Fairfield, Iona, and Saint Peter's Claim Holiday Tournament Titles
MAAC Sports
Edison, NJ - The Fairfield, Iona, and Saint Peter's women's basketball teams each won Holiday Tournaments this past weekend. Fairfield won the Fordham Holiday Classic with a 70-41 victory over Mount Saint Mary's (MD). Iona defeated Bank of Hawaii Invitational hosts Hawaii, 91-69 in the Championship Game on Saturday. Saint Peter's won its own tournament, the SPC Holiday Classic, for the first time since 2003 with a 68-51 victory over High Point.
Fairfield's victory improved the Stags to 10-3
on the year, as they won their fourth straight game. The Stags defeated Troy 55-48 in the opening round game. Sabra Wrice scored 22 in the championship game, following a
16-point effort against Troy, to earn tournament MVP honors.
It was the second MVP honor for Wrice this season, as she earned
similar honors at the Cal-Poly Holiday Beach Classic. Baendu
Lowenthal had a 14-point, 11-rebound double-double in the
championship game win to earn selection to the All-Tournament Team. The tournament crown marks the second of the season for the
Stags, who also won the Cal-Poly Holiday Classic in November with
wins over the host and North Dakota State. It marks the first
time since 1984-85 Women's Court Classic that the Stags have won an
in-season tournament hosted by another institution. It is the
first time they have won two such tournaments in a single season.
Iona topped Williams & Mary 76-69 in the first round of the Bank of Hawaii Invitational before the 22 point victory over Hawaii to claim the championship. In the title game, Anna McLean led Iona with a double-double performance, totaling 20 points and ten rebounds, in addition to two blocks and two steals. McLean had 16 points and nine rebounds against William & Mary. Iona had three players on the All-Tournament team: McLean, Lauren DeFalco and Thazina Cook. DeFalco was named the tournament MVP.
Saint Peter’s defeated the High Point University Panthers,
68-51 in the SPC Holiday Classic Championship Game. Saint Peter’s won the
Classic for the first time since 2003 where they beat Howard 77-70. Lauma
Reke led all scorers with 18 points and seven boards after an
uncharacteristic outing on Saturday. The Panthers were led by Jurica
Hargraves who netted 13 for High point. Johnell
Burts was named MVP of the Tournament for her 19 point
performance on Saturday versus Penn and and 14 points against HPU. Also named
to the All-Tournament Team was fellow Peahen Lauma Reke.