Box Score Feb. 20, 2010
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Washington, D.C. -
With a key Atlantic 10 win on the line, the Fordham women's basketball team gave the George Washington Colonials a run for a tournament berth as the Rams stayed within two possessions with three minutes left in the game. With both teams in double-bonus as time clicked by, the Colonials sunk seven free throws down the stretch to defend their home court with a 56-47 win at the Charles E. Smith Center on Saturday afternoon.
Senior forward Randall Hurst (W. Bloomfield, Mich.) led the Rams with 18 points, shooting 6-for-18 from the floor and 6-for-10 in free throws. Hurst and junior guard Kyara Weekes (Cambridge, Mass.) led Fordham at the boards with seven each. All of Weekes' rebounds were defensive.
With the loss, the Rams are 2-11 in the Atlantic 10 and 8-20 overall. The Colonials advance to 3-8 in the league and 6-18 overall. With La Salle's victory over Rhode Island earlier in the day, the Rams still have a shot to make the conference tournament two weeks away.
The difference in the contest was free throw shooting, which the Rams have been successful at all season. Fordham was just 52.6 percent (10-of-19) from the charity stripe, while George Washington converted 16-of-24 for 66.7 percent. Nine missed bonus shots were the 57-46 differential the Rams needed.
The Colonials also held the advantage at their own basket, converting 15 second-chance points.
The Colonials led by eight, 30-22, with 16:37 in the second half. Fordham used a four-minute, 11-5 run to cut the GW lead to two, 35-33 with junior forward Tiffany Stokes (Lynwood, Ill.) at the line for two free throws with 11:56 left. The run was sparked by a jumper inside from Hurst, followed by a three-point play from Weekes on the subsequent possession. A quick six points from junior guard Kristina Bell (W. Bloomfield, Mich.), Hurst and Stokes had the Rams down 34-33 with 12:37 left.
Stokes missed both shots from the line but, tied the game at 35, a minute later with an inside jumper dished in by rookie guard Arielle Collins (Hamilton, N.J.).
George Washington used a 10-4 run from 9:36 to 5:52 to go ahead 45-39 on Fordham, but two made free throws by Bell at 4:25 gave the Rams a two possession chance, 45-41 with 4:24 left in regulation.
With the Rams in double-bonus play, sophomore guard Becky Peters (Plainsboro, N.J.) missed two key free throws at 3:11 that would bring Fordham within one possession.
The scored stayed the same until 2:07, when Colonials' sophomore guard Kay-Kay Allums sank two charity shots to extend the George Washington lead to six, 47-41. GW jammed it inside to score a layup and inside jump shot to extend their lead, 51-41 with 1:13 remaining.
The fouling game commenced as Bell quickly fouled sophomore guard Tiana Myers on the next possession. Myers hit 1-of-2 to give the Colonials an 11-point advantage with 51 seconds left.
Collins hit a shot from long range to cut the Colonials lead to eight, 52-44 with 36 seconds left. The Rams called a 30-second time out to draw up a strategy for the next possession. Despite another three-pointer from Weekes, George Washington was able to hit 4-of-5 chances at the free throw line to keep a steady lead and win, 56-47.
In the last 1:39 of play, the Rams missed five opportunities to score, including three from long range and two inside.
In the first half, Fordham used the last four minutes to catch up to GW who led, 17-12 at 6:04. A fastbreak lay up from freshman guard Charlotte Stoddart (Manchester, England) cut the deficit to three with 3:51 left to play, followed by a free throw from Hurst. Allums sunk a trey to give the Colonials back the five-point lead, 20-15 with 3:17 to go. Back-to-back jumpers from Stoddart and Hurst brought the Rams within one, 20-19 with just over two minutes to play. Hurst and GW's rookie forward Shi-Heria Shipp traded jump shots to go into the halftime break 24-21 in the Colonials' favor.
Fordham was scoreless from the floor as George Washington used a seven-minute, 11-3 run to go up 13-7 with 9:20 left in the first half. The Colonials run was broken by Collins with a fastbreak lay up at 8:38. Following Collins' lead, Stoddart drained a trey dished over by Hurst at 7:50 to bring the Rams within one, 13-12, with 7:12 left in the period.
The Rams forced four GW turnovers in the first four minutes of play, resulting in four quick points for the Rams. Junior forward Caitlin Shadbolt (Coomboona, Australia) scored the first basket for Fordham off a turnover by the Colonials' redshirt-freshman forward Brooke Wilson. Hurst followed suit with a fast break layup to give Fordham the 4-2 advantage at 17:57.
Up next, the Rams will conclude their regular season will a home contest against the No. 6 Xavier Muskateers after a full week break. Fordham and Xavier will tip off on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m. in Rose Hill. The last time the Rams hosted a ranked team was when they played No. 12/14 George Washington in the 2006-07 campaign.
