Women's Basketball Falls at Dayton

Box Score

Leading 58-57 with under three minutes to play, it appeared as if Fordham might be able to come out of one of the toughest venues in the A-10 with an impressive road win.  Unfortunately for the Rams, the reigning conference regular season champs rattled off a late 10-0 run, helping Dayton clinch a 73-64 win on Sunday afternoon.
 
Erin Rooney led the Rams (15-4, 4-2 A-10) in the loss, tallying 19 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds, while co-captain Abigail Corning narrowly missed a double-double with 16 points and nine assists.
 
Freshman Hannah Missry had a terrific shooting performance on the afternoon, hitting four of her six attempts from three for 12 points.
 
Samantha Clark also finished in double figures for Fordham, registering 11 points and seven rebounds.
 
The game's opening minutes featured plenty of offense on both sides, with the two teams shooting over 50 percent and carrying a ten-all tie into the first media timeout of the afternoon.
 
After Andrea Hoover extended the Flyers' lead to one on the other side of the stoppage, the Rams rattled off a 7-0 run, grabbing a 17-11 lead on a deep Corning two-pointer with 14 and a half minutes to go.  Dayton (11-4, 4-0 A-10) scored four unanswered following that, but a Corning three-ball and a Mary Nwachukwu 15-footer bumped the Fordham lead back up to seven, 22-15, with just over 12 minutes left in the half.
 
Corning's third three-pointer of the day made it 25-19 in favor of the Rams just before the midway point of the period, but the Flyers responded with a 12-0 run over the next three minutes, with ten straight points coming from Jodie Cornelie-Sigmundova.
 
Following the Dayton tear, the Rams put together six unanswered of their own, as a Clark layup and four points from Rooney tied the score at 31 just inside the four minute mark. 
 
Dayton then scored five in a row to take 36-31 just over a minute later, but the Rams closed the half on an 8-2 run thanks to a pair of threes from Missry, giving the Rams a 39-38 lead heading into the locker room.
 
In the opening stanza, Corning led the Rams with 13 points, while Rooney and Missry each added nine.  Rooney also chipped in five assists in the first half.  As a team, the Rams shot 56 percent in the first half, including a 7-8 performance from beyond the arc.
 
Following the offensive explosion that was the first half, the opening few minutes of the latter stanza were relatively quiet.  At the half's first media timeout just over four minutes in, the Rams held a 41-39 lead following a Clark layup to start the scoring.
 
Dayton's first field goal of the half tied the score at 41 six and a half minutes into the action and a pair of Cornelie-Sigmundova free throws gave the Flyers the lead, 43-41, 90 seconds later.
 
The Flyers extended their lead to as many as four, 45-41, but the Rams answered with six of their own, grabbing the 47-45 advantage on a Clark layup with just under nine minutes to go in the second half. 
 
Dayton jumped ahead 48-47 on a Celeste Edwards and-one a few minutes later, but Corning responded with a dagger from beyond the arc, giving the Rams a 50-48 lead at the under-eight minute media timeout.  Fordham would build that lead to as many as six, 54-48, over the next few minutes, but Dayton responded with seven in a row, taking a one point lead with 4:24 to play.
 
Rooney tied the score at 55 following a one-for-two trip to the line, and Ally Malott put the Flyers right back ahead, 57-55, with a jumper from the top of the key.
 
The next time down, Clark put the Rams on top, 58-57, with a three from the corner, but the advantage would be short-lived.  Malott responded with a three-pointer of her own, kicking off a 10-0 Dayton run in the span of just 59 seconds.  Malott hit another three during the run, while Amber Deane converted on an and-one and Kelley Austria made a free throw.  When it was all said and done, Dayton led by nine, 67-58, with 1:41 to go.
 
The Rams could not overcome the deficit, falling 73-64 to the Flyers.
 
The Rams will be back in action on Saturday, January 25^th, hosting UMass at 2 PM in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
Fordham made a valiant effort to close the gap down the stretch, cutting the deficit to as little as five, 69-64, on a Rooney free throw, but the Rams could not close the gap.