Nov. 23, 2010

FDU Game Notes | WFUV Audio | Live Stats | Follow on Twitter

Teaneck, N.J. - The Fordham women's basketball team looks to extend a solid start to the 2010-11 season on Tuesday night, as the Rams take on the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights at the Rothman Center in Teaneck, New Jersey.

The Rams are 3-1 for the first time since the 2005-06 season, and look for their fourth straight win on Tuesday. They will try and stop the Knights, who are 2-1 this season, having won their last two games.

The game will be broadcast live on WFUV.org, with the pre-game report beginning 10 minutes prior to game time.

SERIES HISTORY: This is the sixth all-time meeting between the Rams and Knights, with Fairleigh Dickinson holding a 3-2 series edge. Fordham however has won the last two meetings, which includes a 76-60 win at the Rose Hill Gym last year.

In that game, Fordham had a balanced scoring attack plus a 52% shooting night, as the Rams won by 16 over the Knights.

Five Rams finished with at least eight points and three assists, led by Randall Hurst with 18 points and four rebounds. Katie Vican posted 17 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, while Kristina Bell had 12 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Becky Peters chipped in nine points and five boards with Kyara Weekes having eight points, three steals, and a career-high five assists.

SCOUTING FAIRLEIGH DICKINSON: Out of the Northeast Conference, the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights are 2-1 this season, after defeating Columbia (61-50) and Army (52-43) in their last two games. The Knights are coached by Peter Cinella, who is in his fourth season at the school with a record of 34-58 to date.

On the floor, Mariyah Laury leads FDU with an 18.3 scoring average and .538 field goal percentage, and was named NEC Player of the Week on Monday. Besides her, Danielle Pankey is the other top scoring threat for the Knights at 8.3 points per game.

LAST TIME OUT: The Fordham women's basketball team had plenty of history against fellow Jesuit institution Holy Cross, with most of it in favor of the Crusaders. The Rams shoved that history aside and put forth a masterful team performance, where all 11 Rams found the scoresheet, while holding Holy Cross to just 36 points, as the Rams posted their third straight win with a 67-36 decision at the Rose Hill Gym.

For Fordham, all 11 Rams scored, led by Becky Peters, who had 10 points and seven rebounds. Tiffany Stokes added nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds with Charlotte Stoddart and Abigail Corning also having nine apiece. Caitlin Shadbolt chipped in eight points with Arielle Collins having seven points.

Abigail Corning NAMED ATLANTIC 10 ROOKIE OF THE WEEK (11/22): Fordham University freshman guard Abigail Corning was selected as the Atlantic 10 Conference Women's Basketball Rookie of the Week, it was announced by the league office on November 22nd.

It is Corning's first career Atlantic 10 weekly award, and the first award by a Ram player since Becky Peters received Rookie of the Week honors twice during the 2008-09 season.

Corning paced Fordham to back-to-back victories last week, including a 64-42 win over Bucknell and a 67-36 decision against Holy Cross, two of the largest margins of victory for Fordham in the past six seasons.

The freshman guard provided the Rams with instant offense off the bench, averaging 11.0 points, knocking down 4-of-6 from three-point range (.667) and 6-of-7 from the charity stripe (.857). She scored a season-high 13 points against Bucknell on November 17th, following with nine points and three rebounds versus Holy Cross on November 20th.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE: High scoring affairs have been rare over Fordham's recent history, which puts Fordham's first two games of the season at the Phoenix Classic in high standing.

The Rams scored at least 75 points in both games, which included an 81-point winning effort against Stony Brook. In addition, the Rams had five players reach double figuring in the Stony Brook.

To put those numbers in perspective, the last time Fordham had five players in double figure scoring was December 11, 2005, in a 71-61 loss to Cincinnati, a span of 138 games.

The Rams' last 80-point game was January 11, 2004 in an 81-69 victory over the Rhode Island Rams, a span of 191 games.

Finally, to find the last back-to-back 75-point games by the Rams, one goes back to the opening two games of the 2002-03 season against Brown (78 pts.) and Morgan State (89 pts.), which was 231 games ago.

In addition, Fordham has scored at least 60 points in its first four games for the first time, since a five-game streak to open the 2002-03 season.

TURNING UP THE DEFENSE: After a pair of sub-par defensive efforts in the opening two games, the Fordham Rams returned to its stingy ways against the Bucknell Bison on November 17th and even more so against Holy Cross on November 20th.

Fordham allowed only 42 points to Bucknell, the lowest output for a Rams' opponent since La Salle scored 42 points on January 24, 2009. The Rams' held Bucknell to just 3-of-14 shooting in the second half, which included a 15-minute stretch without a Bison basket. Bucknell was also forced into 17 turnovers in the second half, and 28 for the game, which turned into 37 points on the offensive end.

The following game against Holy Cross was even better, as the Rams held Holy Cross to just 13 first half points, and 36 overall in the game. It was the lowest point total by a Fordham opponent since Puerto Rico-Mayaguez netted 31 points in the San Juan Shootout on December 22, 2004. The 31-point win by Fordham was the largest margin of victory since that same game over Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, which was a 41-point margin. It was the fifth time in the last 15 years that Fordham has held an opponent under 40 points. The others teams besides Puerto Rico-Mayaguez were Morgan State (35 - 11/24/02), Dayton (39 - 1/7/01), and Oregon State (32 - 12/17/97)

O CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: For the second straight season, forward Alexandria Zamora will serve as the team captain of the women's basketball team. One of the motivational leaders of the team, Zamora returns to the floor after missing all but one game due to injury in 2009-10. She finally made her return to the line-up against Holy Cross, playing seven minutes on November 20th.

COMING ATTRACTIONS: Fordham continues its road trip over Thanksgiving break, as the team travels to Lawrence, Kansas for the BTI Tipoff Classic, hosted by the University of Kansas, a three-day tournament from November 26-28. Fordham will meet Memphis on November 26th, North Dakota State on November 27th, and host Kansas on November 28th. After this tournament, Fordham returns for a home contest against St. Peter's College on December 4th.