Shots Don't Fall for Women's Basketball at Iona

New Rochelle, N.Y. – The shots weren't falling for the Fordham women's basketball team on Wednesday afternoon at Iona, hitting just 30% of their attempts in a 55-46 loss at the home of the reigning MAAC champions. With the loss, the Rams snap a three-game winning streak and fall to 6-3 (1-0 A-10) on the season, while the Gaels improve to 5-4 (1-1 MAAC) overall.
 
"I give a lot of credit to Iona. They had a great defensive game plan and we struggled from the field," Head coach Stephanie Gaitley said, "We need to learn from this loss and get better. Suffer or celebrate until midnight and move on."
 
It was a tale of two halves in the midweek nonconference contest, the last on the road for Fordham until A-10 play begins in earnest in January, with both defenses highlighting a scrappy opening two quarters. The two schools entered the halftime break tied, 23-23, with similar numbers across the board. Both teams got more looks in the second half but it was Iona's shots that were falling on the afternoon. The Rams shot just 25% on 20 attempts in the second half.
 
The game's opening four minutes presented a preview of the contest: a combined 1-of-10 shooting from the field, until a Davis jumper ended the drought.  Fordham powered through that dry spell and eventually took its first lead, 9-7, with a 7-2 run. The hosts would close the quarter on a brief 4-2 run to knot things up, 11-11. Davis, with six points, and Holden, with five, made up the scoring for the Rams in the opening salvo.
 
The second quarter was much of the same, with a 12-12 defensive battle over the final 10 minutes of the first half to head into the break tied, 23-23. The Rams had shot 5-of-14 from the floor in the first period and 5-of-12 in the second. Davis and Holden added two and three points, respectively, while Kate Kreslina added a three-pointer and Asnate Fomina and Tiffany Suarez each came off the bench for two points. Fomina added three assists in the frame, a new season-high. Fomina would finish with five on the day, one off her career-high.
 
Hannah Missry, who had been held scoreless in the first half, opened the second half immediately with a three from the right wing to take a quick 26-23 lead. Iona's Alexis Lewis answered with a three of her own, her second bucket of the game to that point. The MAAC's leading scorer had been held to just two points in the first half. The 26-26 tie was the game's eighth but also the last. Fordham would retake the lead and enjoy a 5-0 run but after that, the Rams wouldn't be able to add to their total for 10 minutes. Kreslina's second three and a Davis layup got the Rams up, 31-26. Iona followed up with an 11-0 run over the final eight minutes of the period, pushing its lead up to six at the end, 37-31. Ironically, Fordham shot 0-for-11 during that time.
 
Marina Lizarazu, another of Iona's leading scorers, had been held to just four points thus far, but buried a deep three to take a nine point lead on the first possession of the fourth quarter, 40-31. Danielle Burns got her first bucket of the game with 8:10 to play on a nice drive and finish to cut the deficit to seven. Several minutes later, a Lizarazu jumper gave the Gaels their first double digit lead of the day, 46-36. The hosts' advantage would grow to and hover around 12 for most of the period until a Holden three with several seconds left solidified the final score.
 
Davis led the way with her fourth double-double of the season, tallying 14 points and 12 rebounds to go with three steals while playing every minute of the game, a new career-high of 40. Holden finished with 11 points and three assists in 37 minutes. Senior forward Danielle Padovano came off the bench to notch a season-high seven points in the fourth quarter on 2-of-3 shooting plus a steal. For Iona, both Lewis and Treyanna Clay ended up with 15 points. Karynda DuPree double-doubled with 12 points and 12 rebounds in 38 minutes.
 
Fordham shot just 30.4% from the floor (17-of-56) for its second-lowest tally of the season after visiting #1 Notre Dame. The Rams also shot 7-of-27 from deep, the most attempts so far this season. The team did not attempt a free throw until the fourth quarter and finished with a 5-of-6 mark from the charity stripe, a season-low for attempts.
 
Fordham did, however, notch a season-high 10 steals, also adding 12 offensive rebounds.
 
Missry's lone three in the game was the 257^th of her career. It moves her into sole possession of nine place in Atlantic 10 history for career makes.
 
The Rams begin a six-game nonconference homestand with a Saturday afternoon match-up this weekend against Princeton. That contest will begin at 2 p.m. and will be streamed live on the A-10 Digital Network, plus WFUV.