Feb. 5, 2010
Bronx, N.Y. - Fordham will travel to Amherst, Mass. for their second road game of the week as the Rams take on the UMass Minutewomen at the Mullins Center on Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. and will coincide with Massachusetts' National Girls and Women in Sports Day promotion.
The Rams (8-15, 2-6 A-10) will look to rebound off Wednesday's 61-48 loss at University of Richmond. The Minutewomen (8-14, 2-5 A-10) have lost four of their last five games, with their most recent loss at the hands of St. Bonaventure on Tuesday, 69-54. Follow all the action live from the Mullins Center with Tom Felice and Casey Hunt of WFUV Radio. The game will also web cast live via www.UMassAthletics.com. Live Stats are also available.
SCOUTING THE MINUTEWOMEN: Massachusetts struggled at the start of the season with scattered wins over Boston University, Villanova, Rice, Brown, Quinnipiac and NJIT in non-conference action. In the Atlantic 10, UMass and Fordham have a common victory over Rhode Island (Jan. 9). UMass has also defeated St. Louis in an overtime shootout, 62-59 in Missouri (Jan. 13).
Sophomore forward Kristina Danella has led the Minutewomen in scoring 11 of 21 games she has played in, and had a season-high 21 points against Boston University. Danella leads the team with 13.5 points per game and has 87.4 free throw percentage, which is second in the Atlantic 10 behind Fordham's Kristina Bell. Sophomore center Nicole Jones is second in scoring with 9.4 ppg, followed by rookie center Jasmine Watson with 9.4. On Jan. 20 vs. Duquesne, Jones tied the UMass single-game record in blocks with eight.
RAMS VS. MINUTEWOMEN - THE SERIES: The series between the Rams and Minutewomen has dated back to 1980, with Saturday's contest being the 30th meeting between the two teams. UMass holds the record at 20-8 and has won the last four straight against Fordham. UMass is 12-2 at home against the Rams. Fordham won their fi rst meeting on Feb. 29, 1980, 81-63, on neutral territory. In 2002-03, the Rams won both meetings at home in Rose Hill Gym, defeating the Minutewomen 71-55 on Feb. 7, 2002 and 60-52 on Jan. 12, 2003.
WHEN LAST THEY MET: After a strongly fought fi rst-half of play, Fordham lost its 2008-09 Atlantic 10 opener to UMass, 71-62, (Jan. 10) despite three Fordham players scoring in double-digit figures. It was a see-saw battle in the first half, resulting in a 36-34 Massachusetts lead. Within the first minute of the second half, Randall Hurst tied the game at 36-36, but the Minutewomen went on an 8-0 run to make the score 44-36 and led the rest of the way. The Rams were forced to play catch-up and got no closer than eight throughout the second half. Becky Peters led the Rams in scoring with 15 points, while adding six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Tiffany Stokes had a stand-out day with 11 points, four rebounds, three blocks and two assists. Hurst tallied 11points, five rebounds and one steal. Then-rookie Kristina Danella had 24 points for the Minutewomen.
LAST TIME OUT: Despite their second-best shooting effort this season, the Fordham women's basketball team endured another game told by two halves on Feb. 3 as the Rams lost, 61-48, to the Richmond Spiders in Atlantic 10 action at the Robins Center. Down just fi ve points at the period break, the Spiders were unable to shake the Rams by more than a couple possessions as Richmond was plagued by 32 percent shooting. Richmond's quick scoring spurts were just enough to keep the Spiders ahead going into halftime. In the second period, Fordham's luck changed as the Spiders improved to 50 percent and sunk 39 points off Fordham turnovers. The Rams shot 56 percent in the second half, 52.8 percent overall, for their second-best shooting percentage this season. Fordham was also the beast of the boards, tallying 34 rebounds to Richmond's 28. The Rams grabbed 28 missed shots by the Spiders. Offensively, Fordham scored 10 second chance points, while Richmond only had four. Senior forward Randall Hurst led the Rams for the 11th time with 13 points off 6-for-9 shooting and 1-of-4 points from the free throw line.
Junior guard Kyara Weekes had Fordham's second-best scoring effort with 10. Junior forward Tiffany Stokes was one point shy of a double-double with a team-high 11 rebounds and nine points. Stokes was 5-for-6 from the charity stripe, shooting 4-for-4 in the waning minutes of the second period. Despite the late-game push, Richmond held onto their lead and defeated Fordham to the final score of 61-48.
REBOUNDIN' RAMS: Against Richmond, the Rams grabbed 34 boards to the Spiders' 24, with Tiffany Stokes leading the way with 11 rebounds. The Rams boxed out the Spiders enough to take down 28 rebounds off Richmond's missed shots. On offense, Fordham scored 10 second-chance points to Richmond's four. Against La Salle, Fordham had 16 more rebounds than the Explorers, accounting for 11 second-chance points for the Rams. The Rams have out-rebounded eight teams this year, four by double-digit margins.
Randall Hurst and Stokes lead the team having led the Rams in nine games each on the boards. Hurst leads the team in rebounding percentage overall with 6.6 rebounds per game, 103 total defensive rebounds. Stokes has 89 defensive rebounds, 147 overall (6.4 per game).
COMING ATTRACTIONS: The Rams will return home on Wednesday, Feb. 10 for an Atlantic 10 contest against Dayton (17-5, 5-2 A-10), who is currently fourth in the league standings. Tip off is slated for 7 p.m. at Rose Hill Gym. Fordham hasn't been home since their 57-47 victory over La Salle on Jan. 30. In their last two home games, the Rams defeated both Rhode Island and La Salle, and have limited their A-10 foes scoring to 47 points.
