Box Score Jan. 20, 2013
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
BRONX, N.Y. - Marah Strickland's 1,000th career point couldn't have come at a better time for the Rams. The graduate student sank four free throws, the last of which marked her 1,000th, in the closing minute of the game to seal her team's victory over Richmond, 47-40, in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the win, Fordham moves to 13-5 (3-0), prolonging their best ever start in A-10 play and securing a six game win streak for the first time since 1993. Richmond fell to 11-8 (1-2) with the loss.
Holding Richmond to 24 points below their season scoring average, the Rams used stellar defensive play and perfect free throw shooting (14-14) to down a Spiders squad that was picked to finish second in the conference preseason.
Strickland finished with 20 points to push her career total to an even 1,000 and shot a perfect 6-6 from the line, as did senior guard Arielle Collins who added eight points and five boards.
Richmond came out hot to start the contest, scoring the game's first four points before jumping out to a 6-2 lead on a pair of Ryann Dannelly free throws. Samantha Clark nailed a three to pull the Rams within one just over four minutes into the contest and followed that up moments later with a layup to put the Rams ahead 7-6.
After a Richmond bucket put the Spiders up 8-7, Fordham uncorked a 15-3 run take a 22-11 lead with 8:30 to go in the half. Strickland scored five for the Rams over that stretch and Abigail Corning added four.
After not having scored for over five minutes, shots began to fall for Richmond. Kristina King scored five points on a 7-0 run that pulled the Spiders within four, 22-18, with just over seven minutes until the break.
The last seven minutes of the half didn't feature that much offense from either team, with two Collins free throws and a Strickland floater to beat the buzzer accounting for the Rams' output to end the half.
Fordham entered the locker room with a 26-20 advantage.
Clark and Strickland paced the Rams in the first half with seven points apiece. Abigail Corning added six on 3-5 shooting and Erin Rooney registered five boards and three assists in the opening stanza.
The two squads played even over the first four and a half minutes of the second half, with two Strickland free throws pushing the Fordham lead to six, 32-26, at 15:40. Just over three minutes later, it was Strickland again. The graduate student from Mt. Airy, Md., nailed a jumper from beyond the arc to give the Rams a 35-26 advantage with 12:16 left in the second half.
Richmond rattled off four in a row to pull within five, but two Rooney tries from the charity stripe were good and the Rams moved back ahead by seven, 37-30, with seven minutes to go.
The Spiders scored four unanswered again from there, cutting the Fordham lead to three, 37-34, with just over six left on the clock.
After a Samantha Bilney layup pulled the Spiders within one, Strickland responded with a floater through the lane, pushing the Rams back ahead by three, 39-36, with just over three minutes to go.
Neither team found the bottom of the bucket over the next two minutes and the Spiders decided to send the Rams to the line with a three point lead and 1:02 to go. Collins subsequently drilled four free throws within the span of 30 seconds to put the Rams up seven, 43-36, with 38 ticks on the clock.
Richmond scored a pair of buckets to try and close the gap, but four free throws from Strickland, including her 1,000th career point, sealed the game for the Rams.
Clark turned in another dominant performance on the defensive end, tallying six blocks for the second straight contest.
After a perfect week at home, the Rams hit the road on Wednesday, taking on Xavier in Cincinnati at 7 PM.
