Fordham University Athletics

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team made its WNIT debut on Friday night against Furman and walked away 13-point winners, 60-47, to gain its first victory of the season. The Rams now look ahead to facing the number one team in the country, Notre Dame, in South Bend, Ind. on Monday night. Fordham is guaranteed a third game next weekend regardless of the result on Monday.
 
"I'm really proud of the team and our defensive effort tonight," head coach Stephanie Gaitley said, "Every one played double-digit minutes and everyone contributed to a great team win over a very good Furman team."
 
Fordham started out tough defensively and later used a 23-point third quarter to jump out to a double-digit lead that the Rams would hold until the very end in their WNIT debut. Eight Fordham players would get on the scoresheet, including three making their debuts.
 
The first basket of the 2016-17 season was scored by junior G'mrice Davis, who found space at the free throw line and canned her open look. Sophomore point guard Lauren Holden knocked down the team's first three-pointer of the season on a contested look from the right wing to give her team an early 5-2 lead. Senior Hannah Missry, Fordham's all-time leader in long range makes, made her first look from deep on the next possession. The Rams' early variety on offense continued thereafter, with Danielle Burns hitting a jumper for her first points of the season and redshirt Kate Kreslina, who played a team-high 35 minutes, followed with her first career bucket, a lay-up, to put Fordham up, 12-2, at the halfway point of the first quarter.  
 
A sluggish and defensive first period brought nearly double the points in the next. Furman outscored the hosts, 17-14, in the second period, even tying the game at 19-19 one a layup by DeAnneisha Jackson, but Mary Goulding, Asnate Fomina, and Anna Kelly scored their first points of the season, with a layup, jumper, and three-pointer, respectively, to give the Rams a seven-point cushion that would turn into four after Cierra Carter hit a three with 45 seconds to play in the half. Fomina got the crowd on its feet at the end of the half, soundly blocking Carter's next effort, a desperation heave at the end of the clock. Fordham held a 26-22 advantage at the break.
 
Lauren Holden started the second half with a bang, knocking down a corner three on the team's first possession, netting Kreslina her first career assist in the process. The teams traded buckets until Missry, who had been held scoreless since her early three, eased in a layup for a nine-point lead that would grow to double figures for the first time with a Kreslina layup. Burns hit another three to jump the lead up to 14, and Fordham would hold that margin through the end of the period, scoring 12 points in the paint during the 23-point outburst.
 
Furman made things interesting in the fourth quarter, chipping down the lead back into single digits, to six with seven minutes to play after Le'Jzae Davidson hit a shot from behind the arc. On the next Paladins possession, Kelly skied for an offensive rebound then ran the length of the court to the basket to push the lead back up to eight. Fordham turned up the pressure after that and didn't allow a single Furman field goal the rest of the way. Fouls and free throws pushed the advantage back up to 13 by game's end.   
 
Burns and Holden shared team-highs with 12 points, the latter with an efficient 4-of-6 from the field, including 3-of-5 from deep, while Kreslina wrapped up her debut with 10 points, eight rebounds, and two assists in 35 minutes. Davis struggled with foul trouble but still ended up with eight points and six rebounds in 24 minutes, as Missry compiled five points and six rebounds. Kelly and Goulding scored seven and four points, respectively, off the bench. Goulding also hauled in four boards and notched a block.
 
The Rams enter the quarterfinals where a match-up with #1 Notre Dame awaits on Monday night at 7 p.m.