Box Score Feb. 22, 2012
Final Stats
Olean, N.Y. -
It was a Herculean task in front of the women's basketball team on Wednesday as they faced #19/21 St. Bonaventure in front of a raucous, lively crowd at the Reilly Center in Olean, New York. In the end, the Rams gave the Bonnies a scare, but fell, 52-45.
The game featured the top two defensive teams in the Atlantic 10 and early on defense was the story as neither side came out shooting the ball particularly well and three minutes into the game the there were only four total points scored as Amelia Horton opened with a jumper from the foul line extended at 19:31 and Becky Peters followed with a layup at 16:56 to even the score.
St. Bonaventure took a 5-2 lead as Jessica Jenkins came off a screen and buried a three-pointer at 14:51. The Rams quickly countered with a short bucket from Charlotte Stoddart, and they took a 7-5 lead as Abigail Corning buried a three from the corner at 12:38.
Both teams then turned up the defense and both sides exchanged the lead as Jenkins hit a bucket at 10:08 to give the Bonnies a 13-11 lead. That was short lived though, as Corning buried her second trifecta of the game to give Fordham a 14-13 lead at 8:03.
After Megan Van Tatenhove hit a game-tying foul shot at 7:34, Stoddart beat the shot clock with a three pointer that put Fordham up 17-14, at 7:04.
The Rams eventually built a five-point cushion, 21-16, as Arielle Collins hit back-to-back running layups for Fordham. After a St. Bonaventure three-pointer from Chelsea Bowker at 3:40, Stoddart hit another three to bring the lead back up to five points, 24-19, at 2:26.
Fordham pushed the lead to eight points, 27-19, when Collins hit a three-pointer with under a minute left before Jenkins hit a last second pull-up jumper to cut the Fordham advantage to 27-21 at the half.
The Rams hit 5-of-12 three-pointers in the first twenty minutes and converted five St. Bonaventure turnovers into five points.
The second half began much like a microcosm of the first 20 minutes as both sides struggled to score. The Bonnies scored the first points of the half on a basket from Doris Ortega before Fordham scored at the 16:06 mark when Peters made a hoop to make the score 29-23 for the Rams.
After the Peters basket, St. Bonaventure rattled off five straight points to pull within one, 29-28, at 13:48, forcing the Rams to call a timeout. Out of the break, Fordham responded with a pair of foul shots from Stoddart to push the lead back to three, 31-28, at 13:16.
Fordham held a slim lead until St. Bonaventure went up for good on a CeCe Dixon three at 6:42 to make it 39-37. A Van Tatenhove jumper bumped the Bonnies lead to four, 41-37, and Dixon gave St. Bonaventure its largest lead of the game, eight points, when she sank two free throws to make the score 48-40 with 1:00 left.
Stoddart got the Rams within six points on a driving layup and then Christina Gaskin's lone basket of the game, a three-pointer with 32 second left, drew the Rams within three, 48-45. But St. Bonaventure hit its next four foul shots and won 52-45.
Stoddart led the Rams with 14 points and Peters chipped in with 10.
Fordham is now 11-17 overall, 2-11 in the A-10. The Rams close out the regular season on Sunday, February 25, as they host Saint Louis in an Atlantic 10 game for Senior Day. The game is scheduled for 2:00 PM.
Notes: The game featured the top two defensive teams in the A-10 and Fordham held the Bonnies to just 21 first-half points and outscored St. Bonaventure 9-0 on second chance points... Fordham outrebounded the Bonnies 36-21, marking the 17th time the Rams have outrebounded their opponents... Becky Peters passed Cammie Cass (188) for second place on the all-time steals list with (189)... Next on the list is Denise Hammersley (232)... Peters also tied Kristina Bell for third in career starts (106), while she passed Bell (3646) for third place in career minutes with 3653.
