Big Run Propels Women's Basketball to 60-46 Victory Over Hofstra

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BRONX, N.Y. -- Thanks to a 28-10 run that lasted nearly 15 minutes over both halves, the Fordham women's basketball team defeated Hofstra, 60-46, Friday night at the Rose Hill Gym in a nationally-televised contest on SportsNet New York (SNY). With the victory, the Rams improve to 2-2 on the season, while the Pride falls to 1-2 overall.

Early in the first half, Fordham constructed a pair of four-point leads, as senior Emily Tapio's layup gave the Rams a 12-8 advantage at the 14:10 mark.

After Hofstra's Asia Jackson's trey ball capped a 5-0 mini spurt to give the visitors their final lead at 13-12, a pair of free throws from sophomore Alina Gjerkes triggered six unanswered points to give the Rams the lead for good, 19-13, while starting the 28-10 run with 9:56 remaining before halftime.

The Pride crawled back into the contest and trimmed their deficit back to one at 20-19, but junior Samantha Clark's layup with 4:11 before halftime started a half-ending 9-2 run, which gave Fordham a 29-21 lead heading into the break.

The home team connected on 40 percent (10-of-25) of its shots over the first 20 minutes, including 3-of-7 from behind the arc. Sophomore Hannah Missry, who was making her first appearance of the season, came off the bench and knocked down 2-of-4 from distance. Defensively, the Rams held the Pride to only 30.8 percent (8-of-26) from the floor and forced them into 13 turnovers that resulted in 12 points.

The run would continue to start the second half, with Fordham scoring nine of the first 11 points after the break. The Rams eventually outscored the Pride, 20-4, as a pair of Tapio free throws completed the outburst with 16:49 to go in the contest. The lead ballooned out to 19 at 50-31 when Clark knocked down a three-pointer with just less than 11 minutes left.

Fordham shot a blistering 60 percent (12-of-20) in the second half to finish with at a season-best 48.9 percent (22-of-45) from the field, including 6-of-12 from downtown, while making 10-of-11 from the charity stripe. The home team also assisted on 16 of their 22 makes from the field. The defense held Hofstra to 33.9 percent (19-of-56) and 1-of-10 from three-point range while forcing 22 turnovers and winning the battle on the glass, 33-29.

Clark led all scorers with a season-high 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from behind the arc, to go along with five boards and two steals. Tapio produced a terrific all-around game with 14 points, a game-high eight rebounds, five assists and two steals. Missry added nine points off the bench on 3-of-6 from behind the arc, and graduate student Tiffany Ruffin dished out a career-best seven assists.

Ashunae Durant paced Hofstra with 13 points, while Elo Edeferioka added 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Rams return to action this Tuesday, Nov. 25 when they travel to Newark, Del. to take on Delaware, with tipoff scheduled for 7 p.m.