Rams Outlast Duquesne, Advance to A-10 Semis

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In the first two games this year between Fordham and Duquesne, the Dukes withstood a pair of second half Fordham comebacks to pick up two wins.  On Friday night in Richmond, it was the Rams' turn to hold off the Dukes, earning a 45-41 victory over Duquense in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship.
 
The Rams will face St. Bonaventure tomorrow at 1:30 PM in the semifinals.  That contest will be aired live on CBS Sports Network with Ed Cohen and Julianne Viani on the call.
 
Emily Tapio led the Rams with 12 points and 10 rebounds, her fourth double-double in the last six games.  The Brewster, N.Y., native also connected on the free throw that put the game out reach for Duquesne in the closing seconds of the second half. 
 
Senior Abigail Corning also finished the game with 12 points for the Rams, while backcourt mate Erin Rooney added ten points. 
 
Sophomore forward Samantha Clark narrowly missed a double-double in what could arguably be considered her most complete performance of the season, tallying nine points and 11 boards in the win.
 
As a squad, the Fordham defense proved relentless, holding the Dukes to their lowest single-game point total this season.  Duquesne shot just 31 percent from the floor, including an anemic 1-11 from beyond the arc.
 
After struggling to score early on in their first two matchups against Duquesne, the Rams showed no signs of similar problems in the early going tonight, netting nine of the game's first 11 points before jumping out to a 9-4 lead at the first media timeout of the game.
 
Duquesne, however, would not stay down for long.  Trailing 9-2, they uncorked an 8-0, grabbing a 10-9 advantage near the 11 minute mark of the half. 
 
After seeing their early lead evaporate, the Rams responded with five unanswered of their own, moving ahead 14-10 at the midway point on the period.  The Rams continued to score, extending their run to 12-1 on a Corning jumper with just under eight minutes to go, pushing their advantage to 21-11 and forcing a Duquesne time out.
 
Neither team found the bottom of the bucket for the next four minutes of action, as Olivia Bresnahan ended a six-minute scoreless streak for the Dukes with a layup to make it 21-13 with 3:46 left until the break.
 
Bresnahan's layup marked the first of six unanswered for Duquense, highlighting an 8-2 run that brought the Dukes within four, 23-19, with two minutes to go in the first half. 
 
Tapio added one free throw with two seconds on the clock, and the Rams entered the locker room with a 24-19 halftime lead. 
 
Corning led the Rams with seven points in the opening stanza, while Rooney, Clark and Tapio each added five. 
 
The Rams defense suffocated the Dukes in the first half, holding Duquesne to just 26 percent from the floor overall and 0-6 from beyond the arc. 
 
The two teams traded buckets to start the second half before a Rooney triple put the Rams ahead by eight, 31-23, four and a half minutes into the action.
 
After trailing by as many as nine, the Dukes slowly whittled away at the Fordham advantage, holding the Rams scoreless for over six minutes and uncorking an 8-0 run to bring themselves within one, 34-33, with 8:41 on the clock. 
 
Following the Duquesne surge, the Rams came alive, initiating a 6-0 tear to move ahead by seven, 40-33, with just shy of five minutes to go. 
 
The back and forth affair continued in the closing minutes, as this time it was Duquesne's turn for a run.  The Dukes scored seven in a row, knotting the contest at 40 with just over two minutes to play. 
 
In crunch time, however, the Rams pulled through.  Rooney connected on a pair of free throws to put the Rams back ahead by two, 42-40, with 1:59 on the clock.  After Wumi Agunbiade connected from the charity stripe to pull Duquesne within one, Clark sank a layup to push the Rams' advantage back to three with 45 ticks on the clock.  April Robinson narrowly missed a 27-footer that would have tied the contest in the closing seconds before Tapio went 1-2 from the line to seal the victory.