Dec. 22, 2010
New Rochelle -
The Fordham Rams and Iona Gaels renewed an old rivalry on Wednesday and Iona came away with a 47-44 win in a game played at the Mulcahy Center in New Rochelle. The loss was the second consecutive game in which the Rams held the opponent to under 50 points and the fourth time this season.
The game was the 42nd meeting in a long and storied rivalry that dates back to March, 1973 where the Rams defeated the Gaels 25-18 in that first encounter. On Wednesday night, it was the Gaels who moved one step closer to evening the all-time series with the Rams.
The hosts slowly built a lead that culminated with an Anda Ivkovic layup at the 13:10 to make the score 13-6. The seven point advantage was the largest of the game. The Rams then went on a 14-3 run over the course of a five minute stretch in the opening half. Alexandria Zamora got it started with a layup off the glass. Arielle Collins buried one of her two three-pointers and the Rams closed the gap to two, 13-11, with 11:45 left. They tied the game when Kristina Bell hit a layup at the 10:33 mark. From their, Fordham closed out the run with buckets from Kyara Weeks and Abigail Corning. Corning's basket gave the Rams a 20-16 edge at the 8:04 mark.
The half ended with a seesaw battle where neither team took a lead larger than two points. Fordham led 24-22 at the half.
The second half opened with Peters scoring again to give the Rams a 26-22 cushion. The score remained within three points until Iona's Diana Hubbard gave her team a 31-30 lead with a jumper at the 13:38 mark. Kristina Ford buried a three-pointer almost five minutes later to give the Gaels a 38-33 lead. Fordham tied the game for the fifth time when Charlotte Stoddart connected on her only basket of the game, a three-pointer that evened the score at 40-40 with 7:15 remaining.
The final seven minutes saw Fordham try to claw back into the game and a Tiffany Stokes free throw with 0:50 remaining drew the Rams within one, 45-44. With only ten seconds left, Stoddart drove through the lane, made contact and hit the basket, but it was waved off as she was whistled for an offensive foul. Hubbard sank both foul shots and Iona held on for a 47-44 victory.
The Rams were led by Corning, who scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds. Peters scored eight points and had a game-high 10 boards. Weekes nearly had a double-double, finishing with eight points and nine rebounds.
Following the Christmas break, the Rams return to action against the Yale Bulldogs on Tuesday, December 28, as part of the Fordham Holiday Classic. The game is slated for 1:00 p.m.
Game Notes: Becky Peters eight points' gave her 807 for her career, passing Jada Jefferson (803) for 23rd on the all-time scoring list...The 47 points allowed mark the fourth game this year the Rams held an opponent to under 50 points in a game...The Rams entered the game at the top of the Atlantic 10 in three-point field goal percentage defense (24.5%), the Gaels were 3-18 (16.7%).
