Women's Basketball Falls to Buffalo to Begin Holiday Classic

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Bronx, N.Y. – The 10^th annual Fordham Holiday Classic began with a bang on Thursday afternoon but it was not the result that the Fordham women's basketball team had wanted, as the Rams fell, 58-54, after a thrilling fourth quarter to Buffalo. With the result, Fordham falls to 9-5 (1-0 A-10) on the season, while the Bulls remain undefeated at 10-0 overall.
 
"We have learned through some wins, now we need to learn through this tough loss," Head coach Stephanie Gaitley said, "Tomorrow's game will tell me a lot about this team."
 
After stymieing the Buffalo offense in the first quarter and holding a 14-9 lead, the Bulls charged back with an 18-9 second frame to hold a small 27-23 halftime lead. A sloppy and stop-and-go third quarter gave way to a thrilling and fast-paced fourth that came down to the final seconds, including a Danielle Burns layup in the final seconds that would've tied the game but was waved off as charging.
 
Buffalo point guard Stephanie Reid led the way with 21 points, five boards, four assists, and four steals while playing all 40 minutes. G'mrice Davis struggled from the field, shooting 4-of-16, but finished with her sixth double-double of the season, 13 points, 15 rebounds, to go with two blocks and four steals. Burns also ended up with 13 points, while Lauren Holden scored in double figures, with 11, for the eighth game this season.
 
Burns got the game started with a buzzer-beating layup and Buffalo responded with a small 5-0 run. Fordham answered with a 9-0 run on three three-pointers from Hannah Missry, Holden, and Burns, over the next four minutes. Fordham's defense held Buffalo without a field goal for nearly seven minutes in the first period until a Burns turnover led to a Reid fastbreak with 49 seconds remaining. Before that, JoAnna Smith had hit two free throws with 2:23 on the clock.
 
The second quarter was a different story for the Rams as they could not find the bottom of the basket which allowed the visitors to go on a 12-0 run until Burns canned a pull-up three with 3:23 remaining in the half. Fordham hadn't scored in eight minutes dating back to the end of the first period. It was back-and-forth until the break after that. Reid answered with a midrange jumper before Mary Goulding intercepted a Reid pass that led to a Missry three to cut the deficit to one, 21-20. Cassie Oursler and Smith held a mini 4-0 run to extend the lead but Holden walked up to the top of the key and drained a three to get within two, 25-23. Reid continued her stellar play with a jumper with two ticks on the game clock to give the visitors the four-point advantage heading into halftime. Fordham could only muster three long-range makes in the frame.
 
Fordham came out of the gate with purpose and Missry nailed her third three of the game, and the 266^th of her career to surpass Xavier's Suntana Granderson ('04-'07) for eighth-most in Atlantic 10 history, while also cutting the lead to one. However, it became a defensive battle over the next nine minutes and change, with the teams combining for just 18 points. Buffalo held Fordham without a field goal over the next six minutes around two Davis free throws on two trips and upped its lead to seven, the largest margin to that point, 35-28. Neither team scored for nearly three minutes until a Holden three but Courtney Wilkins answered immediately with a three of her own, her first points of the game. Again the defenses prevailed with just one field goal the rest of the quarter – a Davis layup with 20 seconds on the clock, her first bucket of the game to that point. Buffalo took a 38-33 lead into the final frame.
 
Davis started the quarter with a jumper off a nice feed from Asnate Fomina on the first possession but Buffalo continued to answer all of Fordham's attempts to get close. Katherine Ups drained a three before Danielle Padovano, making her first start of the year, scored her first points of the game under the basket to get within four. Ups and Summer Hemphill each scored on their teams' next two possessions to push the lead to eight, 45-37, and Gaitley called a timeout. Holden got into double figures with a floater in the lane near the end of the shot clock out of the break and Davis canned both of her freebies to get the deficit again to four, 45-41, but Hemphill quieted a sizeable crowd with an and-one on the other end. The crowd went back into a frenzy a few seconds later after Hemphill fouled Davis as she converted a layup and the junior contributed her own three-point play to get within four, 48-44, and for her sixth double-double of the season.
 
The offenses continued to thrive in the fourth, with Reid hitting a long two and Fomina hitting her lone downtown attempt from the corner to cut the deficit to three, 50-47. However, once again, the Bulls answered quickly, this time Ups hitting another three. Burns showed off her midrange moves to give herself space near the left elbow for a made jumper and on the next offensive possession, Davis was fouled on an offensive rebound but failed to convert either of her attempts at the stripe. With time running out, Fordham put Reid at the line several times where should win make one of two each time. After her first trip to the line, Fordham raced down to try to cut into the five-point lead. Missry's three just missed but Davis was there for the board and putback. Reid again hit one of two freebies and Burns sent the Rose Hill Gym into hysterics with a pull-up three from the top of the key to get within one, 55-54, with 10 seconds to go. Reid missed the first but hit the second and the Rams sprinted down the court, Burns holding the ball, and the senior saw her running layup attempt fall in. The whistle blew and the crowd jumped to its feet but the foul was called on Burns. Reid hit both free throws on the other side.  
 
This was just Fordham's second loss in the Bronx on the year, against eight wins, and second in the last three weeks. Both teams attempted 53 shots but Buffalo hit two more (39.6%) than Fordham (35.8%). The Rams took the second-most three-point attempts of its season, with 23, and converted 10 of them (43.5%), matching its second-highest output of the year, while holding the Bulls to 4-of-10 shooting from deep. One of the best free throw shooting teams in the country, Fordham struggled today, making just 6-of-12. Buffalo held the advantage on the glass, 37-32.
 
After limiting themselves to just 16 turnovers over the previous two contests, Fordham coughed up the ball 18 times, the third-highest total this year. Defensively, the Rams were solid, with Davis' two blocks and nine total steals, second-most this year.
 
Fordham will play UNC Asheville tomorrow afternoon at noon in the consolation game, while Buffalo will battle Harvard for the Holiday Classic crown. The Rams' game will be broadcast live on the A-10 Digital Network and WFUV.

Postgame with Coach Gaitley: