Women's Basketball Hosts Manhattan in "Battle of the Bronx" Sunday

Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats
Game Notes | Twitter Updates @FordhamWBB

BRONX, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team (6-4) looks to win its third straight game, as the Rams host Manhattan (1-6) Sunday in the annual "Battle of the Bronx" contest inside the Rose Hill Gym, with tipoff slated for 2 p.m. A webcast will take place on Atlantic10.com, while an audio broadcast will take place on WFUVSports.org.

Last Time Out
The Fordham women's basketball team constructed a complete team effort in its 72-36 victory Tuesday night (12/9) over Central Connecticut inside Detrick Gymnasium.
All 12 dressed members of the roster played at least seven minutes or more, with 11 finding their way into the scoring column while not a single Ram scored in double figures.

Junior Samantha Clark and sophomores Hannah Missry, Danielle Padovano and Danielle Burns all scored nine points to lead the way, while senior Emily Tapio and freshman G'mrice Davis each netted eight points.

On the glass, Fordham outrebounded CCSU, 38-28, as Clark paced the Rams with six boards, with Davis adding five. Tapio dished out a game-high four assists, and Padovano recorded a career-best three steals.

The Rams shot a season-high 52.9 percent (27-of-51) from the field, including knocking down 16-of-28 (57.1 percent) over the first 20 minutes. Defensively, they held the Blue Devils to only 28.3 percent (13-of-46) and just 5-of-24 in the second half (20.8 percent). The 32 points scored by CCSU marked a season-best for Fordham.

The Blue Devils scored the first four points of the game, before the Rams came back to tie the contest at 6-6. A three from Clark broke the tie and gave Fordham the lead for good and started a 17-3 run, which was capped by Clark with a layup at the 10:15 mark of the first half.

The Rams defense really went to work after CCSU cut the lead back to 12 at 25-13 with 8:18 left in the opening half. Fordham did not allow the Blue Devils to score until 1:22 remaining before halftime and outscored CCSU by 10 over the stretch. The Rams went into the locker room leading 38-17.

Manhattan
2014 Season: 1-6 (0-2 MAAC)
When: Sunday, Dec. 11 - 2 p.m.
Where: Bronx, N.Y. (Rose Hill Gym)
Series History: Manhattan leads 24-21 (since Feb. 7, 1980)
Last Meeting: Dec. 21, 2013 - Fordham 71, Manhattan 46 (in Riverdale, N.Y.)
What You Need To Know: The Jaspers, who are picked to finish seventh in the 12-team Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), are off to a rough start, with only one win in their first seven games, which came in their second game of the season at Holy Cross (66-60). Manhattan has lost five straight since and all six games by double digits at an average of 21.2 points per game. The Jaspers are playing their fifth straight road contest and started MAAC play last weekend with a pair of losses in western New York to Canisius (55-44) and Niagara (64-36). Junior forward Shayna Ericksen paces Manhattan with 11.0 points and 8.1 rebounds per game while shooting 52.2 percent from the field. Freshman guard Nyasha Irizarry tallies 7.1 points per game, and fellow classmate Kayla Grimme collects 6.4 points, 7.0 rebounds and a team-best 2.0 blocks per game. Junior guard Jacqui Thompson dishes out 3.1 assists per game and is knocking down 87.5 percent of her free throws.

Up Next
The Rams are scheduled to have 15 days off before returning to action when they host the Eighth Annual Fordham Holiday Classic, Dec. 29-30, inside the Rose Hill Gym. Fordham will take on Savannah State in first-day action at 1 p.m., before taking on Princeton or Hartford the following day at either 1 p.m. or 3:30 p.m.