Women's Basketball to Play Two Games at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout

Live Video (Pay) | Live Audio (Free) | Live Stats
Twitter Updates @FordhamWBB | Game Notes

LAS VEGAS -- The Fordham women's basketball team (2-1) looks to win its third straight game when it plays a pair of games of games starting Friday at the South Point Shootout. The Rams first face the Lady Raiders of Texas Tech (3-0) Friday at 7:30 p.m. eastern standard time, before taking on #23/RV Syracuse (2-1) Saturday at the same time. Both contests will take place inside the South Point Arena, will be streamed online for a fee, and will have an audio feed for free on WFUV.
 
SCOUTING TEXAS TECH: The Lady Raiders enter Friday's contest 3-0 and are coming off a 79-64 victory over Idaho State Tuesday night. They also have wins over Southeastern Louisiana (113-51) and Niagara (79-45).

Texas Tech, who was picked to finish ninth in the 10-team Big 12, has four of its five starters averaging double-figures in scoring and six overall on the team. Junior guard Ivonne CookTaylor leads the way with 15.7 points per game and she leads the conference and ranks 38th in the nation in steals per game at 4.5. Just a tick behind her is junior college transfer Leashja Grant. The starting center averages a double-double with 15.7 points and 12.7 rebounds per game to go along with 2.3 blocks and a .667 field goal percentage. She was named the Big 12 Player of the Week to start the season and ranks second in the conference in both rebounding and field goal shooting, which stands at 14th and 13th nationally.

Senior guard Rayven Brooks adds 14.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while knocking down 57.1 percent from three-point range, which leads the Big 12. Senior guard Ryann Bowswer chips in 11.0 points and 3.7 assists per game, which leads the team, and 2.0 steals per game. Sophomore forward Dayo Olabode and freshman guard Japreece Dean both come off the bench to score 12.3 points and 10.0 points per game, respectively.
 
SCOUTING SYRACUSE: The Orange (2-1), who play Washington Friday, enter the shootout ranked #23 in the Associated Press Poll for the third straight week and has received votes in the USA Today Coaches Poll for the third consecutive week as well. Syracuse won at Atlantic 10 foe Rhode Island, 57-54, to start the season, before losing 57-55 at #4/5 Tennessee. Syracuse is coming off a 90-61 victory over Morgan State Monday.

The Orange, who was picked to finish fifth in the 15-team ACC, is led in scoring by senior guard Brianna Butler at 15.0 points per game. She is the program's all-time three-point leader and leads all active player nationally in career three's made with 257. Junior guard Alexis Peterson, a 2014-15 Second Team All-ACC and All-Defensive Team selection, is a 2015-16 Preseason All-ACC pick and averages 13.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game. Junior Briana Day adds 9.0 points and a team-best 8.0 rebounds per game, while fellow classmate Britney Sykes chips in 8.7 points and 5.7 boards per contest.
 
SERIES HISTORY: Friday's meeting between the Lady Raiders and the Rams will be the first ever between the two schools. Fordham is 0-3 against the Orange, and the two sides met last November in Syracuse, N.Y. when the home team pulled away for a 59-42 victory.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Rams used a big third quarter and second half to pull away from Lafayette, 61-49, Tuesday night their home opener inside the Rose Hill Gym.
For the second game in a row, senior Samantha Clark and sophomore G'mrice Davis both collected double-doubles. Clark led all scorers with a season-high 15 points to go along with 10 boards and a season-best three blocks. Davis added 11 points, 10 boards and three steals, and junior Hannah Missry chipped in 11 points and four rebounds.

Sophomore Asnate Fomina, who started her first game of the season, paced the Rams in assists for the third straight game, as she dished out five while adding a career-high five rebounds. Junior Danielle Padovano came off the bench to tally seven points, as did freshman Lauren Holden, whose seven points were the first of her career.

Davis had six points and five rebounds at the first media timeout in the first quarter with Fordham leading 9-2, before holding an 11-8 advantage after the first 10 minutes. In the second quarter, a jumper from junior Danielle Burns moved the Rams back in front by six at 16-10, but seven unanswered from the visitors produced their first lead of the game at 17-16 with 5:42 to go before halftime. Fordham rebounded and outscored Lafayette by five the rest of the half to go into the break leading 25-21.

After halftime, the Rams inched their lead out to eight nearly halfway through the third quarter, before a three from the Leopards sliced the lead back down to five at 34-29. But a layup from Clark, a trey ball and a pair of free throws from Padovano coupled with a pair of free throws from Holden helped catapult a quarter-ending 9-0 run to increase the Fordham advantage out to 43-29 after three quarters. Fordham would take a pair of 19-point leads in the final stanza, before cruising to the 61-49 victory.

The Rams finished the game shooting 37.7 percent (20-of-53) from the field, including 6-of-19 from distance. Fordham also made 15-of-18 from the charity stripe and doubled up the Leopards in the paint, 24-12. The Ram defense held Lafayette to just 24.6 percent shooting (14-of-57) and 6-of-21 from downtown. The visitors did make 15-of-20 from the free throw line and won the rebounding battle, 42-39, including a 19-13 edge on the offensive glass.
 
550: Head Coach Stephanie Gaitley recorded her 550th career victory Tuesday night in the win over Lafayette.
 
1,000 POINT WATCH: After scoring 14 points at Penn State, 10 more against Manhattan and a season-high 15 versus Lafayette, senior Samantha Clark needs 86 points to become the 18th player in program history to achieve 1,000 points in their career.
 
BACK-TO-BACK DOUBLE-DOUBLES: Senior Samantha Clark and sophomore G'mrice Davis each collected double-doubles for the second game in a row after the victory over Lafayette. Clark netted a season-high 15 points and grabbed 10 boards to go along with a season-best three rejections, while Davis added 11 points, 10 boards (to tie a career high) and three steals, giving her eight thefts over the last two contests.
 
DEFENSE DOMINATING: Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, Fordham has held its opponents to less than 50 points 24 times resulting in 24 victories. The Rams are 35-4 in such instances under Coach Gaitley and have won 26 straight. This occurred 12 times last season already twice season with the victories over Manhattan and Lafayette.
 
34-OF-42: The Rams have assisted on 34 of their last 42 made buckets.
 
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 ranks second in the Atlantic 10. She also played a career-high 31 minutes against Manhattan. Fomina recently grabbed a career-high five rebounds against Lafayette
 
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.
 
SEASON OPENERS: After the loss at Penn State, the Rams' record in season openers dropped to 21-25 overall in now the program's 46th season. The Rams last won a season opener two years ago when they defeated San Francisco, 80-66, inside the Rose Hill Gym. They are now 2-3 in openers under head coach Stephanie Gaitley and 21-24 overall in 45 seasons
 
YEAR 30: Head Coach Stephanie Gaitley is in her 30th season as a head coach and has accumulated 550 career victories.
 
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 return to the Rose Hill Gym to host Delaware Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m., before welcoming Delaware State Saturday, Dec. 5 at 2 p.m.