Cavanaugh, Goulding Lead Women's Basketball to 58-55 Win over Pittsburgh

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Bronx, N.Y. -- Bre Cavanaugh notched her first career 20-point game and Mary Goulding racked up her first double-double of the season to lead the Fordham women's basketball team to a 58-55 victory over inside the Rose Hill Gym on Sunday afternoon. It was the Rams' third straight victory as they improved to 4-2 on the year, while the Panthers fell to 5-3 overall.

"Today was one of my favorite all-time wins," Head coach Stephanie Gaitley said after the game, "Our team smiled in the face of adversity. We grew as a team and a program. Tonight was yet another step in the right direction!"
 
Fordham tallied season-highs of 58 points on 21 field goals and 45.7% shooting, while also outrebounding the Panthers, 37-35. The Rams used an 8-0 run midway through the first quarter to take an early lead and held that lead for nearly the entire contest. Fordham was without senior forward G'mrice Davis due to personal reasons, her first missed game since her sophomore season. Davis currently leads the nation in rebounding average with 14.6 boards per contest.
 
Pittsburgh's Kalista Walters, as she would throughout the contest, got to the rim on back-to-back possessions to get the game's scoring started, kickstarting a quick 7-3 run for the Panthers to begin the contest, with Kendell Heremaia's three getting the Rams on the board. It didn't take Fordham long to rally, though, with a Cavanaugh trey at the seven minute mark cutting the deficit to one, 7-6, and, nearly two minutes later, a Holden three from the top of the arc, to take a 9-7 lead, one which the Rams would hold onto until midway through the third quarter. Over the next few minutes, Fordham continued to hold Pittsburgh off the board while building up its lead, with a Goulding layup and a Holden jumper in the paint capping a 10-0 run for the hosts to lead, 13-7, until Walters stopped the run with a layup. Walters would score her team's other two baskets in the final two minutes, but Fordham still ended the quarters on an 8-4 run, including a Goulding and-one and another Heremaia three.
 
The Panthers used a 9-4 run, bookended by three-pointers by Kyla Nelson, to cut the deficit to three, 25-22, during a slugging six minutes to start the second period. With the Rams offense struggling, Goulding converted a tough layup in traffic to extend the lead and, despite Pittsburgh hitting another three and a buzzer-beating layup, Fordham took a slim 29-27 advantage into the half.
 
The Rams committed 13 turnovers in the first half but shot the ball well, at a 42.3% clip and 44.4% from deep, while outrebounding the Panthers, 20-12, and 6-3 on the offensive glass.
 
Lauren Holden gave the Rams a spark with two straight running jumpers to start the second half to make the lead six, 33-27, but the Panthers regrouped and mostly dominated the rest of the frame, with Walters scoring 10 of Pittsburgh's 14 points, while Cavanaugh and Goulding combined for seven points. The Rams turned the ball over five times over those eight minutes, shooting just 2-for-4, while the visitors shot 6-of-14 overall, hauling in seven offensive boards and 12 total, and snatched a one-point lead, 41-40, at the end of the quarter.
 
Nelson's layup to start the fourth capped a quick 6-0 run to give Pittsburgh a three-point lead, 43-40, with nine minutes to play, but the duo of Cavanaugh and Goulding continued to step up for Fordham. The latter hit 1-of-2 from the line and the former converted a tough layup a minute later to knot things up again, 43-43. The two schools traded baskets, with Goulding answering Jasmine Whitney's jumper, but it was Johanna Klug scoring her only points of the game that proved to be the eventual game winner, taking a well-timed feed from Goulding, who was double-teamed, and laying it in to take a 48-47 lead with just under four minutes to play. Cavanaugh canned a jumper from the top of the key and Goulding worked through a double-team for a layup for six total unanswered points, 52-47.
 
The Panthers shot just 3-of-10 over those final minutes, while Fordham made all four of its attempts from the field, including 4-of-6 from the line, with just one turnover. With seven seconds remaining, Kauai Bradley scored and was fouled by Goulding, the junior's fifth and final foul, and converted the and-one opportunity to cut the deficit to two. Holden could hit just the second of her two free throw attempts but Nelson's buzzer-beating attempt missed.
 
Cavanaugh had her most efficient shooting performance in maroon and white, converting on 7-of-13 attempts, 2-of-5 from downtown, and 5-of-6 from the charity stripe, while playing all 40 minutes, matching her season-high. Goulding hit 6-of-10 shots and 5-of-7 from the line, while scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds across 29 minutes before fouling out. Lauren Holden chipped in 10 points and three assists while never leaving the court in the contest. The junior entered the game second in the country in minutes per contest and raised her average again tonight.
 
Klug started and scored two points and seven rebounds but led the team with seven turnovers. Heremaia scored six points and matched Klug with seven rebounds, while fellow freshman Zara Jillings scored two, rebounded four, and tallied a block and a steal off the bench.  
 
The Rams travel to Penn State on Wednesday night for a rematch of last March's second-round WNIT loss in State College. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.