Box Score Jan. 24, 2009
Box Score Photo Gallery
Bronx, N.Y. - The strong defensive effort of the Fordham women's basketball team was not enough to stave off the Explorers of La Salle University as the Rams dropped yet another heartbreaking game, 42-41.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 7-13 (0-5 Atlantic 10) while La Salle improves to 10-10 (1-4 Atlantic 10).
With La Salle leading 34-27 with 7:43 to play, Fordham began an 8-0 run that would bring the Rams to their first lead of the second half, 35-34. Tiffany Stokes gave Fordham the go-ahead basket and, following a La Salle free throw, would put the Rams up by two with her ninth point of the game.
After a three-pointer by Jamie Walsh to put the Explorers back up by one, senior Annie Zopf knocked down her third trey of the game to bring the Rams back to a two-point lead with 2:48 remaining.
A made free throw from Randall Hurst brought the Fordham lead to three, but two Morgan Robertson free throws would bring the Explorers back to within one. Then, with nine seconds remaining on the clock, Hurst committed her fourth personal foul to send Robertson back to the line with the Rams leading, 41-40. Robertson would drain both shots, leaving the Rams nine seconds to attempt a game-winning basket.
Freshman Becky Peters took the inbound pass, drove down the length of the court to have her shot hit the side of the rim as Hurst's attempt to put the rebound back into the net came fractions of a second too late. The buzzer rang and the game ended, 42-41 in La Salle's favor.
In the first half, things were relatively quiet as Fordham took an early lead, 3-2 with a Zopf three-pointer. La Salle then went on a 9-0 run led by Robertson, who scored four of her 12 points in the run. Two buckets by Hurst and a layup by Kristina Bell would respond to one more Explorer basket to pull the Rams to a three-point deficit at 12-9.
Peters added two more points to cut the lead to one with 3:27 remaining in the first half, but a Walsh three-pointer and two Margaret Eldteron jumpers pushed the score to 19-13 to end the half with La Salle leading.
La Salle's Jamie Walsh led all scorers with 16 points as Morgan Robertson chipped in 10 points with 12 rebounds.
Randall Hurst led the Rams with 11 points while adding six rebounds and one assists. Tiffany Stokes accounted for nine Rams points along with five rebounds while Annie Zopf contributed nine points, three boards and two assists.
The Fordham women's basketball team will be back in action on Saturday, January 31st as they head out to take on the Charlotte 49ers at 4:30 PM.
NOTES: With the defense holding La Salle to just 42 points and Rhode Island to 49 in the previous game, the defensive stand the Rams put up over the last two games marks the first time since the 2004-05 season that Fordham has held the opposition to under 50 points in back-to-back games.
