Women's Basketball Drops Title Game to Vanderbilt, 53-40

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team fell to Vanderbilt, 53-40, Wednesday in the championship game of the Ninth Annual Fordham Holiday Classic inside the Rose Hill Gym. With the loss, the Rams fall to 5-8 on the season, while the Commodores improve to 11-2 overall.

The visitors led wire-to-wire, and Fordham was never closer than five after being down, 3-2. Vandy led by as many as 14 in the first quarter, before leading 21-11, after 10 minutes of action.

Neither side scored over the final six minutes of the second stanza until the Commodores tallied the first six. The Rams prevented the shutout when junior Hannah Missry drained a three-pointer with five seconds left in the half, which put the Rams down, 27-14, at the break.

Sophomore Asnate Fomina found senior Samantha Clark for a layup to begin the third quarter, but Vandy would answer and stretch its lead out to 15 at 34-19. Fordham, however, outscored the visitors the rest of the quarter, as another trey ball from Missry climbed the Rams to within nine at 37-28 after 30 minutes of play.

The Commodores would once again go in front by 14 to start the final quarter and still led by 13 with 3:24 to play. Fordham sliced the deficit to 48-40 with 2:18 remaining, but it was not enough, as Vandy took the championship, 53-40.

The Rams shot only 5-of-21 over the first 20 minutes but rebounded to shoot 10-of-25 in the second half to finish at 32.6 percent (15-of-46), but they only made 4-of-17 from three-point range. Fordham also turned it over 11 times in the first half, before only committing five miscues in the second half while forcing 18 turnovers.

The visitors finished at 42.9 percent (18-of-42) but connected on 6-of-13 from distance and outscored the Rams by five at the charity stripe. They also won the rebounding battle, 33-22.

Clark and Missry both scored a game-high 11 points to lead Fordham, as both were selected to the All-Tournament team, with Fomina adding eight points and game highs of three assists and two steals. Sophomore G'mrice Davis grabbed a game-best six rebounds, while Clark tallied a season-best four blocks.

Minta Spears paced the Commodores with 11 points, while Rebekah Dahlman, the MVP of the tournament, added 10.

The Rams return to action this Saturday, Jan. 2 when they host Davidson to start Atlantic 10 play. Tipoff inside the Rose Hill Gym is slated for 2 p.m.