Rams Down Cincinnati, Win Lady Rebel Round-Up

Box Score

LAS VEGAS- Erin Rooney scored a career-high 27 points to lead Fordham over Cincinnati, 56-40, in the championship game of the Lady Rebel Round-Up on Sunday afternoon.
 
The win moves Fordham to 6-2 on the season, the program's best start since 2002-2003. 
 
Rooney continued what has been an unreal season on Sunday, adding eight rebounds to her career-best 27 points.  On the year, Rooney is averaging 22.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per contest.
 
Fellow captain Abgail Corning narrowly missed a double-double, tallying 11 points and nine rebounds to help Fordham to clinch it's first-ever victory in a Thanksgiving tournament.  The Wethersfield, Conn., native also chipped in a game-high four assists.
 
Samantha Clark put up her best effort of the season against the Bearcats, registering 11 points and six rebounds.
 
Both teams had trouble getting shots to fall at the beginning of the game, as neither the Rams nor the Bearcats got on the board until Rooney hit a three with 17:24 left in the half. 
 
Clark had a put-back a few trips later to put Fordham up five, but the Bearcats responded with five of their own to tie it at the game's first media timeout with 15:15 on the clock. 
 
From there, the Rams rattled off six in a row, as Rooney, Corning, and Danielle Padovano each hit a jumper to give Fordham an 11-5 lead just inside the 13 minute mark. 
 
The Bearcats cut the deficit to one on an Alexis Durley triple a few minutes later, but three-pointers from Corning and Hannah Missry marked six more unanswered from the Rams, jumping ahead 17-10 with eight and a half to go in the first half.
 
Cincinnati narrowed the lead to three a couple of possessions later, but that's when "The Rooney Show" started.  The redshirt senior scored Fordham's next 11 points, anchoring an 8-1 run that helped the Rams take a 31-17 lead into the locker room.
 
Rooney led all scorers in the first half with 16, while Corning added eight.  As a squad, the Rams shot 5-10 from beyond the arc in the opening period.
 
Cincinnati came out of the locker room guns blazing, chipping the Fordham lead down to single digits, 33-24, just over four minutes into the half.  Clark answered right back though, notching her second bucket of the half to move Fordham ahead by 11. 
 
After that, it was Rooney's time to shine once again.  The Christchurch, New Zealand, native scored eight of the Rams' next ten points, helping Fordham build its lead to 16, 48-32, with just under seven minutes to go.
 
The Rams kept their foot on the gas the rest of the way, getting the lead to as high as 19 before closing out the game with a 56-40 advantage.
 
The Rams will next be in action on Saturday, December 7^th, when they travel to Holy Cross for a 1 PM match up against the Crusaders.