Box Score Dec. 8, 2010
Box Score
Lawrenceville, N.J. -
Following a slow first half, the Fordham women's basketball team exploded for 42 second half points, highlighted by six three-pointers, and got outstanding individual efforts from Becky Peters and Kyara Weekes, as the Rams earned a 67-55 win over the Rider Broncs at Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J.
With the win, Fordham improves to 6-4 on the season, while Rider is still winless at 0-7. The game was the second of five games in December against MAAC opponents for Fordham.
"Any win on the road is a great one. Rider was very inspired coming in here and played hard. They drove to the basket, and got us in some foul trouble," said head coach Cathy Andruzzi following the game. "We made a little zone offense adjustment and did a great job controlling the ball in the second half. We only committed four turnovers, and Kyara Weekes gave us a great game and great energy as the floor leader out there, and it led us to a good road win."
The game started sluggish for both squads as neither team opened a lead larger than three points in the opening half. That three-point lead was by Rider at 23-20 with 4:05 remaining in the period. Fordham though would sneak in a jumper by Kristina Bell and a three-pointer by Abigail Corning to go into halftime with a 25-23 lead.
At the break, Fordham's Caitlin Shadbolt led all scorers with nine points to go with three rebounds, with teammate Becky Peters adding seven points and three rebounds. Sarah human and Alicia Hall each had seven points to lead all Rider scorers.
Rider tied the game at 29 in the second half on a fast break basket, but Fordham had the answer, as Kyara Weekes and Peters hit back-to-back three-pointers to give Fordham its largest lead of the game at six, 35-29 with 14:32 remaining.
The Broncs cut the Fordham lead back to two, but Weekes and Peters again hit back-to-back shots from long range to hold the Fordham lead at five, 41-36. The three-pointer by Peters began a 16-5 run for the Rams over the next 11 minutes, as Fordham increased the lead to as many as 13, 54-41, with just over five minutes left in the game. Over that stretch, Peters had seven of the 16 points with Corning adding five.
Peters later hit her fourth three-pointer of the game at the 3:51 mark to extend the Rams' lead to 14. The lead would be secured with Fordham hitting 8-for-8 from the free throw line over the final 1:02 of the game and finishing off the 67-55 win.
Fordham shot 41.7% from the field in the game, which included eight three-pointers. The Rams also dished out a season-high 17 assists in the game. Individually, Peters scored a game-high 20 points to go with five rebounds and three steals, while Weekes just missed out on a triple-double, netting nine points to go with career-highs of nine rebounds and eight assists. Corning chipped in 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists off the bench with Shadbolt having 11 points.
Rider's top scorer was Alicia Hal with 15 points.
The Fordham women's basketball team returns home to the Rose Hill Gym for its next contest, when the Rams host Monmouth University on Saturday, December 11th, beginning at 1:00 PM.
Game Notes: Fordham improved to 3-0 all-time against Rider... The Rams set a season-high with 17 assists in the game. The previous team best was 16 against St. Peter's... Senior Kristina Bell started her 90th career game tonight, and surpassed 3,000 career minutes played. She is the eighth women's basketball player to surpass 3,000 minutes... Junior Becky Peters passed the 750-point plateau for her career, and moved past four Rams to sit 27th in career scoring at Fordham with 762 points... Senior Kyara Weekes also hit a career-point plateau in the game, as she now has 400 career points.
