Nov. 28, 2011

Newport News, Va. - Coming off the heels of a 1-1 performance at the UCF Thanksgiving Tournament on November 25 and 26, Abigail Corning and Christina Gaskin were feted as Atlantic 10 Co-Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively; it was announced on Monday by the league office. It was the first such award for either player.

Corning is having a breakout year as a sophomore, leading the team in scoring and netting double-figures in every game this season. Against UCF on Friday, a 70-57 Fordham win, Corning had a career day, scoring a career-high 29 points, on 11-of-15 shooting (73.3%), including 3-of-3 from behind the three-point line. She followed that with a game-high 13 points in a one-point loss (48-47) to TCU on Saturday.

The Wethersfield, Connecticut, native took home two Rookie of the Week awards from the A-10 in the 2010-11 season, but this marks the first time she has captured the Player of the Week honor. She shares the award with Duquesne's Wumi Agunbiade.

Corning was also named to the Jesuit Honor Roll on Tuesday, November 29 for her play over the past week. This weekly award is chosen from candidates representing all Jesuits schools in the NCAA and NAIA across all three divisions.

Gaskin, a forward from Hockley, England, is in her first season with the Rams. She reached double-figures in scoring in both games of the UCF Thanksgiving Tournament, including a double-double performance of ten points and 12 rebounds against the hosts on Friday. She followed that up by coming off the bench to score ten more points in the setback to TCU.

The sweep of the weekly awards by the Rams marks just the third time in school history that the team captured both titles in the same seven-day period. The last time came the week of December 22-28, 2008, when Randall Hurst was named player of the week and Becky Peters took home rookie honors. The only other time Fordham earned both honors in the same week came back in the 1999-2000 season when Nailah Wallace won both awards.

The women's basketball team, currently 3-2 on the season, returns to action on Wednesday, November 30, when travels across the Bronx to face Manhattan College in the 43rd annual "Battle of the Bronx" at 7:00 PM.