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The winners of five in a row and coming off a victory at the Lady Rebel Round-Up in Las Vegas, the Fordham Rams will travel to Worcester, Mass., on Saturday afternoon for a showdown with unbeaten Holy Cross.
SERIES HISTORY: The series between the Rams and the Crusaders is one of the longest running rivalries at Rose Hill. Â The two teams were conference foes in two separate leagues, with both holding memberships in the MAAC and the Patriot League at points.Â
Historically, Holy Cross has dominated the Rams, winning 31 of the 40 all-time contests played between the two squads. Â In fact, Holy Cross won the first 19 games between the Rams and Crusaders, with Fordham not picking up a win until the series' ninth year in 1992.
Saturday's game will tie Holy Cross for the fourth most frequently-played opponent in Fordham history, as contest number 41 brings them into a draw with St. Peter's of Jersey City. Â The Rams have played only Manhattan, La Salle, and Iona more frequently.
Fordham and Holy Cross also enjoy an institutional rivalry on the gridiron, with the two Jesuit foes playing each other every year for the Ram-Crusader Cup. Fordham has taken home the trophy in each of the last two seasons.
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SCOUTING HOLY CROSS: Â Holy Cross welcomes the Rams to the Hart Center in the midst of its best start to a season since 1982-1983. Â The Crusaders have won their first six contests of the year, downing Dartmouth, UMass-Lowell, Bryant, UMass, Manhattan, and Northeastern.
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Individually, the Crusaders feature four scorers averaging in double figures, led by Raquel Scott at 16.8 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Â Right behind her with 16.3 per outing is Alex Smith, a senior guard that is far and away one of the Patriot League's most complete players. Â The Delran, N.J., native is shooting fifty percent from the floor, 44 percent from three, and led the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio as of December 1st. Â Smith has dished out over six assists per game in her first six contests.
As a team, the Crusaders lead the nation is assists per game and average nearly 80 points per contest, while surrendering only 60. Â Holy Cross has won five of its six games by at least 16 points and four wins have come by at least 20. Â The squad boasts a tremendous 1.53 assist-to-turnover ratio, good enough for fourth in the nation as of December 1st.
ROONEY RUNS WILD: To say that
Erin Rooney has been having a "good" season so far in 2013-2014 would be an understatement of epic proportions. Â The 2012-2013 First Team All-Atlantic 10 and First Team All-Met Selection has been absolutely unconscious, averaging 22.4 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per contest.
The Christchurch, New Zealand, native ranks first in the Atlantic 10 in scoring, first in defensive rebouding, third in overall rebounding, second in three-point percentage, and third in minutes played. Â Nationally, Rooney ranks 21st in scoring, while also checking in at 21st in double-doubles, having registered four in just eight tries.
In eight games this year, Rooney has scored no fewer than 19 points in any one contest and has topped the 20-point mark in seven of eight games. Â
She is the reigning Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week, an honor that she has taken home twice this season.
"CAN'T MISS" MISSRY: Before she even stepped foot on campus this summer, freshman
Hannah Missry was touted as one of the premier three-point shooters to ever come out of the state of New Jersey. Â Through eight games, she has certainly lived up to the hype, leading the team and ranking second in the conference with over three long balls per game. Â The Jackson, N.J., native is shooting just a touch under 40 percent from beyond the arc, good enough for ninth in the Atlantic 10.
Nationally, Missry ranks 20th in three point field goals made per game.
Against UNLV on Saturday, Missry shot 6-11 overall and 5-9 from downtown, registering her best game as a Ram with 20 points. Â That effort concluded a three game stretch where Missry averaged four long balls a game and shot 60 percent from three-point range.
CORNING NOMINATED FOR GOOD WORKS TEAM: In recognizing the efforts of student athletes who make significant contributions off the court and in the community, the Women's College Basketball Coaches Association, in conjunction with the National Association of Basketball Coaches and Allstate Insurance Company, announced that Fordham senior
Abigail Corning (Wethersfield, Conn./Wethersfield) has been named one of the 84 women's finalists for the 2014 Allstate WBCA and NABC Good Works Team.
 "I am greatly honored to be nominated for the Good Works team," said Corning.  "I feel like it is very important to give back to the community, especially when I am so fortunate to be playing Division I basketball at a university like Fordham.  There is no greater feeling than helping those in need and putting a smile on their face, and in turn, my life is impacted and my heart is warmed and humbled."
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Of these 84 women student athletes from across all three divisions of the NCAA and the NAIA, two teams of five will be selected, with one half coming from NCAA Division I and the other half coming from Divisions II, III, and the NAIA. Â These ten student-athletes will be invited to the 2014 Women's Final Four in Nashville, Tenn., where they will participate in a community service project and earn special on-court recognition during the premier event in all of women's college basketball.
