Women's Basketball Welcomes Lafayette for Home Opener Tuesday Night

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team (1-1) looks to win its second game of the season when it welcomes old Patriot League rival Lafayette (0-4) inside the Rose Hill Gym Tuesday night in the Rams' 2015-16 home opener, with tipoff slated for 6 p.m. Fans can watch the game online on the Atlantic 10 Network for free or listen for free online on WFUV.

SCOUTING LAFAYETTE: The Leopards are 0-4 to start the season, which includes a 20-point loss at Delaware, who the Rams play next week, and an eight-point home loss to Atlantic 10 foe Duquesne. Lafayette is coming off a 55-50 loss at Hartford Sunday. The Leopards have also lost by 17 points at Penn. Lafayette, who is picked to finish ninth in the 10-team Patriot League, is led by senior Jamie O'Hare. The 5-6 guard leads the Leopards in scoring at 14.8 points per game, in assists at 3.8 per game and in steals at 4.3 per game while adding 4.3 rebounds per game. Sophomore guard Anna Ptasinski adds 9.3 points per game and has swished a team-best eight three's, and junior forward Ashley Lutz pulls down a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY: Tuesday's edition will be the 18th meeting in the all-time series, which dates back to Jan. 4, 1984, with the Rams holding an 11-6 advantage. The two sides met at least twice every season when Fordham played in the Patriot League from 1990-1995. The Rams won the 1992 Patriot League Tournament when they defeated the Leopards, 65-54, in Easton, Pa. Lafayette won the last time the two teams met, 54-50, Dec. 29, 2012 in the first game of the Fordham Holiday Classic, which was head coach Stephanie Gaitley's second season at Fordham.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Rams pulled away in the fourth quarter to defeat Manhattan, 60-49, Wednesday night (Nov. 18) inside Draddy Gymnasium in the annual "Battle of the Bronx" contest between the two local rivals.Sophomore G'mrice Davis collected the first double-double of her career, as she tied her career highs in both points (19) and rebounds (10) while establishing new career bests in both assists (3) and steals (5). Senior Samantha Clark also recorded a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, and junior Hannah Missry chipped in 10 points, five rebounds and a career-high three assists while knocking down 3-of-5 from distance.Sophomore Asnate Fomina and junior Danielle Burns just missed double figures with eight points, with Fomina dishing out a career-best six assists.

Manhattan tied the contest at 41-41 to begin the fourth quarter, but Fordham took the lead for good with a 7-1 spurt, which was capped when Fomina found Davis for a layup that provided a 48-42 lead with 6:41 to go. After the Jaspers cut the deficit to 48-46 at the 4:42 mark, a Davis bucket started a game-ending 12-3 run.Fordham shot 43.1 percent (22-of-51) from the field, including 6-of-18 from three-point range, but made only 10-of-18 free throws. The defense held Manhattan to 29.6 percent shooting (16-of-54) and 4-of-14 from distance. The Jaspers connected on only 6-of-25 shots in the second half and missed all four of their three-point attempts.The Rams dominated in the paint, outscoring Manhattan, 30-14. They also held a 40-33 rebounding advantage and also took advantage by using a 14-3 lead on second-chance points.

The Jaspers jumped out to a 9-2 lead to start the game and continued to lead at 12-6, before five straight points from Clark and a jumper from junior Danielle Padovano produced the first Fordham lead of the game, 13-12, with 3:41 to go in the opening stanza. But Manhattan regrouped and closed the quarter on a 7-0 flurry to lead 19-13 after the first 10 minutes.Davis started a 12-0 run for the Rams to start the second quarter with a jumper, and a layup from Fomina moved Fordham in front by six, 25-19. A three-pointer from Burns then gave the Rams their largest lead at the time, 28-21, with 3:57 left before halftime, but the Jaspers tallied the final five points to cut the Fordham lead to 28-26 at the break.The Rams led by as many as four in the third quarter at 35-31 after a Clark layup. However, Manhattan once again answered and used an 8-1 spurt to take a 39-36 lead with 2:22 to go in the stanza. Fordham then cut it to one when Missry found Davis after a Fomina steal, and Missry knocked down a three with 35 seconds left to give the Rams a 41-39 advantage heading into the final quarter.
 
550: A win tonight will give Stephanie Gaitley her 550th career victory.
 
DID YOU KNOW: That the Fordham senior class of 2015 won all four of its "Battle of the Bronx" contests by an average of 20.25 points per game. And the senior Class of 2016 won all four of its games against the Jaspers after last Wednesday's victory.
 
1,000 POINT WATCH: After scoring 14 points at Penn State and 10 more against Manhattan, senior Samantha Clark needs 101 points to become the 18th player in program history to achieve 1,000 points in their career.
 
DEFENSE DOMINATING: Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, Fordham has held its opponents to less than 50 points 23 times resulting in 23 victories. The Rams are 34-4 in such instances under Coach Gaitley and have won 25 straight. This occurred 12 times last season already this season with the victory over Manhattan.
 
CAREER GAME: Sophomore G'mrice Davis produced the best game of her young career in the win over Manhattan. She tied career highs in points (19), rebounds (10) and field goals made (8) while establishing new career bests in steals (5), assists (3) and minutes played (34). The double-double was the first of her career.
 
SOMETHING ABOUT THE SECOND GAME: As noted above, sophomore G'mrice Davis tied her career high in rebounds with 10 against Manhattan. Davis also grabbed 10 rebounds in the second game of last season at nationally-ranked Syracuse.
 
CLARK COLLECTS DOUBLE-DOUBLE: With her 10-point, 12-rebound effort, senior Samantha Clark collected her first double-double of the season and the eighth of her career.
 
FOMINA FACILITATING: For the second game in a row, sophomore Asnate Fomina established a new career high in assists. Her six dimes against the Jaspers set a new career best, which broke her previous high of five, which she set in the loss at Penn State. Fomina's nearly 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio leads the Atlantic 10. She also played a career-high 31 minutes against Manhattan.
 
19 DIMES: The Rams recorded 19 assists on their 22 made baskets in the win at Manhattan. The 19 assists are the most since the Rams registered 21 against George Washington Feb. 8, 2014.
 
MORE CAREER HIGHS: Junior Hannah Missry dished out a career-high three assists against Manhattan while collecting her fourth career block, and junior Danielle Burns grabbed a career-best eight boards and swatted a career-high two shots in a career-best 31 minutes at Penn State, before swishing a career-high two three's against Manhattan.

YEAR 30: Head Coach Stephanie Gaitley is in her 30th season as a head coach. She is one win away from achieving 550 in her career.
 
SITTING OUT: Fordham has 16 members on its roster this season, but only 12 will see action, as four student-athletes will not suit up. Senior Khadijah Gibson and freshman Kate Kreslina are out for the year with an injury, while junior Tiffany Suarez and sophomore Nicole Floyd transferred in from Virginia and Wake Forest, respectively, and must sit out because of NCAA transfer rules.
 
REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD: Junior Danielle Burns and sophomore Asnate Fomina have teamed up with old friends this year and beyond. Burns is joined by former high school teammate Nicole Floyd, as the duo played at Stonewall Jackson high school in northern Virginia, while Kate Kreslina played with Fomina in Riga, Latvia.
 
POSTSEASON FOR THIRD STRAIGHT SEASON: The Rams participated in the postseason for the third straight year and in the WNIT for the second time in school history. Fordham finished 2-1 in the 2013 WNIT when they defeated both Army (55-46) and Boston University (58-44) at home, before falling at James Madison (77-61) in the round of 16 to conclude the season at 26-9. In 2014, the Rams played in their second-ever NCAA Tournament and lost in the first round to California, 64-63, in Waco, Texas. Last season marked Fordham's fourth postseason appearance (lost in 1994 NCAA Tournament to Penn State).
 
CLASS OF 2015: Last year's senior class cemented its mark in Rose Hill history. The 84 wins over the last four years were the third-most in program history, trailing only the Class of 1980 (91 wins) and the Class of 1979 (85 wins). This year's senior class needs 20 wins to become the all-time winningest class in program history.
 
20 WINS: For the third straight season, the Rams won at least 20 games to give them eight in the program's history. The last and only time a Fordham group won at least 20 games in three straight seasons was 1977-78 (25-8), 1978-79 (27-7) and 1979-80 (20-14).
 
ATLANTIC 10 PRESEASON POLL: The Fordham women's basketball team has been selected to finish fourth in the annual Atlantic 10 Conference women's basketball preseason poll, it was announced Wednesday, Oct. 28 by the league at its annual Media Day, held at the Richmond Marriott.For the second year in a row, senior Samantha Clark was selected to the Preseason All-Conference Third Team. The Neptune, N.J. native is coming off a season where she averaged 8.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. The rebounding average ranked seventh in the conference, while the rejection rate ranked 12th overall.

Defending league champion George Washington garnered 12 out of 14 first-place votes to be tabbed as the preseason favorite. Right behind was 2015 runner up and Elite Eight finalist Dayton, who earned two first-place nods. Rounding out the top four was Duquesne and the Rams.Saint Louis, Richmond and Saint Joseph's were selected five-through-seven, respectively, to round out the top half, while Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure and VCU completed the top 10 in slots eight, nine and 10. Rounding out the order of finish in spots 11-14 was George Mason, La Salle, Massachusetts and Davidson.
 
SEASON TICKETS: The Fordham women's basketball team's season tickets for the 2015-2016 season are now on sale. Order yours by calling the Fordham Ticket Office at 855-RAM-TIXX (855-726-8497) or order online at FordhamSports.com. Season tickets include admission to all 15 home games at the Rose Hill Gym, and ticket holders would receive priority access to any postseason games.
 
UP NEXT: The Rams head out west to Las Vegas, Nev. to participate in the South Point Shootout Friday, Nov. 27 and Saturday Nov. 28. The Rams will face Texas Tech and Syracuse in their two games, with tipoff slated for 7:30 p.m. eastern time both days.