Women's Basketball to Face Rhode Island Sunday in Big Road Test

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The second-place Fordham women's basketball team (17-7, 9-2 A10) returns to the road Sunday to take on sixth-place Rhode Island (14-9, 6-5 A10) inside the Ryan Center, with tipoff slated for 2 p.m. in Kingston, R.I. The contest will be streamed live on the Atlantic 10 network, while an audio broadcast will take place on WFUV.org.

Last Time Out
Senior Emily Tapio's layup with eight seconds left off an out-of-bounds play from underneath gave the Fordham women's' basketball team its first lead of the game against Saint Joseph's, 48-47. Tapio then rejected Natasha Cloud's potential game-winning shot that ended up Rams ball after an inadvertent whistle with 1.2 seconds to go. Fordham was then able to run the clock out to clinch the incredible come-from-behind win.

Trailing 41-31 with a shade over eight minutes to go is when the visitors made their move. Tapio scored on consecutive layups, before freshman Asnate Fomina buried a three from the top of the key to slice the deficit to 41-38 with 5:42 left on the clock.

After a Cloud jumper extended the Hawks advantage to 43-38, back-to-back layups from junior Samantha Clark and sophomore Danielle Burns made it a one-point game at 43-42 to cap an 11-2 spurt.

Out of the final media timeout, Fordham had a great opportunity to take the lead for the first time all game, but Fomina missed a wide-open layup and committed a foul going for the rebound. Saint Joseph's would sink both free throws and score on its next possession to go back in front by five at 47-42 with 2:52 remaining.

The Rams held the Hawks scoreless after that. Graduate student Tiffany Ruffin's layup knocked the lead down to 47-44 at the 2:18 mark, and Tapio hit a tough turnaround jumper in the paint to make it 47-46 one minute later.

Fordham was forced to make two stops after that when Saint Joseph's grabbed an offensive rebound with 46 ticks left on the clock. Tapio made another big block with 20 seconds to go, and Clark corralled the rebound. Fordham then called a 60-second timeout.

Out of the timeout, Ruffin drove to the hoop and missed a shot with 10 seconds left, and the ball hit off the Hawks underneath. The Rams called their final timeout to set up the eventual winning bucket, as Ruffin found Tapio, who made a great cut to the basket for the game winner.

Tapio scored 14 of her game-high 16 points in the second half and just missed her second straight double-double to go along with nine boards and three blocks. Ruffin, who picked up three fouls in the first 10 minutes of the game, added nine points, five rebounds and four assists, while Fomina chipped in seven big points off the bench.

Fordham shot 44.4 percent (12-of-27) in the second half to finish at 36.5 percent (19-of-52) for the contest, and the defense held the Hawks to 26.8 percent (15-of-56) from the field. Saint Joseph's did make 15-of-19 from the charity stripe, while the Rams made 8-of-12. Turnovers also killed Fordham, as the Rams turned it over 13 times compared to just five for the Hawks, who outscored Fordham, 10-2, on points off turnovers. The Rams did win the battle on the glass, 41-35.

Rhode Island
2014-15 Season: 14-9 (6-5 A10)
When: Sunday, Feb. 15 - 2 p.m.
Where: Kingston, R.I. (The Ryan Center)
Series History: Rhode Island leads 18-14 (since Feb. 20, 1981)
Last Meeting: Jan. 29, 2014 - Fordham 64 Rhode Island 51 (in Bronx, N.Y.)
What You Need To Know: The Rams, who were picked to finish 13th in the conference, find themselves all alone in sixth place after needing overtime to beat Saint Joseph's, 63-61, at home last time out to move to 6-5 in Atlantic 10 play through 11 games and has alternated wins and losses in conference action all season. Rhode Island started the year 0-2 and 1-3 but reeled off seven straight wins and eight of nine to start 9-4 overall and 1-0 in the conference. The Rams are also 7-5 at home, including 4-2 in league play, with victories over fourth-place Duquesne (62-61), 10th-place La Salle (55-54 OT), 10th-place Massachusetts (70-58) and eight-place Saint Joseph's (63-61 OT). The two losses have come to first-place George Washington (59-49) and fifth-place Richmond (54-50). Charise Wilson, who has already claimed five Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week awards, leads the Rams in scoring at 16.8 points per game, which makes her the second-leading scorer among freshmen in the country. Against Massachusetts she exploded for 33 points, the most scored in one game by any player in an Atlantic 10 contest so far this season. She also leads the team in assists (56) and three-point shooting (48-of-145, .331), while ranking second in steals (42) to go along with 4.4 rebounds per game. Rhode Island is very solid defensively; ranking third in the league in scoring defense (59.1), fourth in field goal percentage defense (.363), fourth in blocks (4.0) and second in steals (1.9). However, the Rams struggle on the offensive end, averaging only 57.2 points per game to rank 13th. They also struggle at the free throw line (.644), from the field (.375) and rank dead last in three-point field goal percentage (.281), rebounds allowed per game (42.4), rebounding margin (-4.9) and assists per game (10.9).

Up Next
The Rams return inside the Rose Hill Gym this Wednesday, Feb. 18 to host Dayton in a huge Atlantic 10 battle, as both teams could enter the game tied for second-place in the league standings. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m., and the contest will be the annual Play4Kay game, which helps promote the fight against breast cancer.