Tapio's Career High Leads Women's Basketball Over Temple

PHILADELPHIA -- Senior Emily Tapio poured in a career-high 21 points and sophomore Hannah Missry tied her season high with 17 points, as the Rams hung on to defeat their old Atlantic 10 rival Temple, 71-64, Sunday afternoon inside McGonigle Hall. With the victory, Fordham improves to 5-4 on the season, while the Owls fall to 3-5 overall.

The Rams led from the opening tip and jumped out to a 21-12 lead after a Missry three pointer with 7:22 to go in the first half. But Temple fought back with six unanswered points to cut the Fordham lead to 21-19 and force a Rams' 30-second timeout.

Fordham responded out of the timeout and stretched its lead back out to eight, with sophomore Danielle Burns' jumper making it 31-23 at the 1:22 mark, before the Rams went into the locker room leading 31-25.

The visitors shot 45.8 percent (11-of-24) over the first 20 minutes and knocked down 5-of-11 from behind the arc while holding Temple to just 29.4 percent (10-of-34) from the field and 3-of-10 from distance.

Fordham came out on fire to start the second half and used a 15-5 run that lasted just a shade under four minutes to take its largest lead of the game, 46-30, as Missry scored eight points during the stretch, including two of her five three-pointers.

The Owls battled back once again and sliced the lead to six at 57-51 with 7:28 left in the game, but the Rams increased the lead back out to 63-51 with six straight free throws from both senior Taryn Durant and Tapio, who made four.

Temple would eventually trim the lead back to six, before graduate student Tiffany Ruffin's old-fashion three-point play extended the lead to 66-57 with 2:52 remaining in the contest.

Over the next 2:27, the Owls made things interesting for the Rams and cut their lead to 67-64 with 25 ticks left after a 7-1 spurt. But it was as close as they would come, as Tapio made her final four free throws to clinch the road victory for Fordham.

The Rams finished the game shooting 41.8 percent (23-of-55) and canned 8-of-17 from three-point range while knocking down a season-best 17 free throws on 21 attempts. Fordham also won the battle on the glass, 40-38, and held Temple to just 33.3 percent (23-of-69) from the floor.

Tapio who scored 15 points in the second half, converted 6-of-11 shots and 9-of-10 free throws and added four rebounds and three steals. Missry knocked down 6-of-10 shots to tie a career best and nailed 5-of-8 from distance to tie a season high. Junior Samantha Clark added 10 points and game highs of eight rebounds and two blocks, while Ruffin chipped in nine points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists.

Tyonna Williams led the Owls with 20 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Feyonda Fitzgerald added 15 points, four rebounds and three assists. Alliya Butts chipped in 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals.

The Rams have another quick turnaround when they travel to New Britain, Conn. to take on Central Connecticut this Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m., before returning to the Rose Hill Gym next Sunday, Dec. 14 to host Manhattan in the Battle of the Bronx at 2 p.m.