Women's Basketball at St. Bonaventure Sunday for Nationally-Televised Contest

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ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team (10-5, 2-0 A10) concludes its mini two-game conference road trip when it travels to St. Bonaventure, N.Y. to take on St. Bonaventure (11-4, 1-1 A10) late Sunday afternoon at the Reilly Center, with tipoff slated for 4 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network, and an audio broadcast will take place on WFUVSports.org. There will also be a video stream on NBCSports.com.

Last Time Out
The Rams earned a hard-fought Atlantic 10 road victory over La Salle, 70-59, Thursday night (1/8) inside Tom Gola Arena to start 2-0 in Atlantic 10 play for the third straight year.

Fordham tied a season high in field goal percentage after shooting 52.9 percent (27-of-51) from the field, including 56.5 percent (13-of-23) in the second half. The Rams also knocked down 5-of-11 from distance, edged La Salle on the glass (40-38), and held the home team to 31.9 percent (23-of-72) shooting and 5-of-18 from behind the arc.

The visitors were in control pretty much from the opening tip. Trailing 5-4, Fordham scored 10 of the next 12 points, as junior Samantha Clark's three-pointer put the Rams in front 14-7. Fordham ultimately went on a 16-4 run and extended its lead to 20-9 on a pair of Tiffany Ruffin free throws at the 12:53 mark.

The Rams led by 11 on four more occasions in the opening 20 minutes, with the last time coming at 31-20 when Ruffin scored on layup with 5:26 left before halftime. But the Fordham starting point guard collected her second foul 37 seconds later and was forced to go to the bench. The Explorers took advantage and closed the half on a 10-3 spurt to cut the Rams advantage to 34-30 at the break.

The run stretched into the second half, and La Salle's Alicia Cropper's trey ball capped a 13-4 burst and gave the home team their second lead of the game, 36-35, with 17:15 to go. However, Fordham quickly responded with three straight layups from Clark to take the lead for good at 41-36.

The layups were the start of a 15-3 run for the Rams, who found themselves back up 11 at 50-39 after freshman G'mrice Davis sank a pair of free throws with 10:12 remaining.
Fordham allowed the Explorers to only get as close as seven the rest of the way, which came with 9:23 left. The Rams took their largest lead of the game, 68-52, with 46 ticks to go.

Clark constructed her second double-double of the season with a season-high 18 points (8-of-12  fg, 2-of-3 3fg), including 13 after halftime, and a game-high 10 rebounds. Senior Emily Tapio added 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists, a career-high three blocks and a game-high two steals, while Ruffin finished with 11 points and dished out a career-high nine assists. Davis chipped in 10 points and six boards for the Rams.

St. Bonaventure
2014-15 Season: 11-4 (1-1 A10)
When: Sunday, Jan. 11 - 4 p.m.
Where: St. Bonaventure, N.Y. (Reilly Center)
Series History: St. Bonaventure leads 21-11 (since Jan. 6, 1996)
Last Meeting: March 8, 2014 - Fordham 73 St. Bonaventure 32 (in Richmond, Va.)
What You Need To Know: The Bonnies, who are picked to finish fourth in the Atlantic 10 this season and one spot ahead of Fordham, opened conference play with a 65-53 home victory over Massachusetts, before falling at Richmond, 67-61, last time out, as the loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Bonnies, who are a perfect 5-0 at home this season. Katie Healy leads the Bonnies in the scoring department, as she is averaging 14 points per game and has scored 20 or more points in a single game three times this season. She also pulls down 6.1 rebounds per game, leads the team in assists (37) and blocks (17) and is second on the team in steals (21). Nyla Rueter adds 10.1 points per game and is the Bonnies' top three-point shooter (.328, 22-of-67) and free throw shooter (.925, 37-of-40) while leading the team in steals (27). Hannah Little chips in 9.9 points per game and is the leader on the glass with 7.1 rebounds per game. She also has 17 blocks to tie Healy in the rejection department.

Up Next
The Rams return to the Rose Hill Gym this Thursday, Jan. 15 to start a three-game conference homestand starting with Saint Joseph's. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network.