Box Score Jan. 18, 2012
Final Stats
Philadelphia, Pa. - It was a bittersweet return to Hagan Arena for Fordham Head Coach Stephanie Gaitley, as her team fell to Saint Joseph's, 57-46 in overtime, in her first game back there since she was the Hawks' head coach from 1991-2001.
The Rams forced the extra session when Cody Sims put a desperation three-pointer off the glass with one second left in regulation but Fordham couldn't carry the momentum into overtime.
Saint Joseph's used the first six-and-a-half minutes of action to build a seven-point lead as a bucket from Ashley Prim, a three-pointer from Katie Kuester and three hoops from Samira Van Grinsven made the score 11-4 at 13:36.
Fordham quickly responded with a basket from Emily Tapio, a three-pointer from Sims, a trifecta and layup from Charlotte Stoddart, and a score from Arielle Collins, that keyed an 11-6 Fordham run which pulled the Rams to within two, 17-15, with 8:14 remaining.
The Rams turned up the defense from there, holding the Hawks scoreless for a 3:57 stretch until a Kelly Cavallo jumper at 5:16 extended the Saint Joseph's lead to four points, 19-15. The Hawks used the last five minutes of the half to push their lead up to six, at 24-18.
The first 20 minutes of play saw the Rams uncharacteristically outscore the Hawks 12-2 in the paint, as Saint Joseph's eschewed its zone defense for a man-to-man look.
The second half saw the Rams make a 12-6 run over the first four minutes of action to draw even with Saint Joseph's 30-30. During the scoring spree, Becky Peters scored five points, Stoddart scored three and Arielle Collins and Abigail Corning scored two each.
The two sides spent the next four minutes exchanging the lead as neither team could put any distance between their opponent until the Rams suffered through a 5:43 scoring drought which allowed Saint Joseph's to make the score 42-35 on an Ashley Prim layup at 7:35.
The Rams retaliated once again as a layup from Collins and a deep three-pointer from Sims drew Fordham within two, 42-40, at 5:21.
The Hawks weren't able to breakaway from Fordham as Saint Joseph's led 46-43 with 1:45 remaining. Needing just one possession to even the score, the Rams missed several opportunities down the stretch before some strong Fordham defense forced Van Grinsven to turn the ball over with 0:25 left in regulation.
On the ensuing possession, Fordham missed a driving layup, got the offensive rebound, and used its final timeout with 0:07 remaining. Out of the break, Sims ended up with ball on the right elbow and threw up a desperation three-pointer that went in and tied the score at 46, with a second on the clock, forcing the game into overtime.
Fordham got outscored 11-0 in the extra session and Saint Joseph's won 57-46. With the loss, the Rams are 10-9 overall, 1-3 in the A-10. Stoddart led Fordham with 11 points.
The team returns home for a pair of Atlantic 10 games beginning with Dayton on Saturday, January 21 at 2:00 P.M.
Notes: The Rams outscored the Hawks in the paint 20-8, the largest difference of the season...Fordham played in its first overtime game of the season... The team is 1-5 in its last six overtime contests...Fordham outrebounded its opponent for the 14th time in 19 games this season...Becky Peters moved past Laura DiGennaro for 6th place on the steals list with 176...She also passed Annie Zopf for 5th place in career minutes with 3,367...Both Arielle Collins and Charlotte Stoddart played all 45 minutes in the game.
