BRONX, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team could not hold a four-point halftime lead and fell to Rhode Island, 71-56, Sunday inside the Ryan Center. With the loss, the Rams drop to 17-8 (9-3 A10) on the season, while URI improves to 15-9 (7-5 A10) overall.
Fordham trailed 17-9 early on, but used a 21-6 run to take a 30-23 lead with 3:22 to go in the first half, before eventually going into the locker room leading 32-28.
URI came out of the break and scored the first eight points and took the lead for good at 36-32 with 18:15 left in the game.
The Rams trimmed the deficit to 46-43 on freshman
G'mrice Davis' layup with 11:33 remaining, but URI responded with seven in a row to stretch its lead out to 53-43 at the 10:01 mark.
Fordham got back to within seven at 57-50 with 5:05 to go, but it was as close as the Rams would come, with URI cruising to the 71-56 victory after outscoring Fordham, 43-24, in the second half.
The Rams turned the ball over 21 times and forced URI into just 12 miscues. Fordham also cooled off in the second half (37.0 percent) after shooting 13-of-27 over the first 20 minutes. The Rams finished at 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field, while URI shot at a 44.8 percent (26-of-58) clip, including 50 percent in the second half.
URI also knocked down 17-of-23 free throws, which included 14-of-16 after halftime, and the Rams only knocked down 6-of-13. Both teams recorded 36 rebounds.
Junior
Samantha Clark led the way with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and eight boards, while senior
Emily Tapio added 12 points, four rebounds and five assists. Sophomore
Hannah Missry also netted 12 points on four three's, Davis chipped in 10, and graduate student
Tiffany Ruffin handed out a game-high nine assists to go along with five boards.
Samantha Tabakman of URI led all scorers with 22 points and added seven boards, while Tayra Melendez added 18 points and nine rebounds. Fordham did hold leading scorer Charise Wilson to nearly eight points under her season average, but the nation's second-leading freshman scorer did dish out five assists and record five steals.
Fordham returns to action this Wednesday, Feb. 18 when it welcomes second-place Dayton inside the Rose Hill Gym for a huge Atlantic 10 matchup. The contest will also be the annual Play4Kay game that helps support the fight against breast cancer. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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