Women's Basketball Travels to Saint Joseph's Sunday

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The third-place Fordham women's basketball team (16-7, 8-2 A10) has a chance to create some history Sunday when it takes on eighth-place Saint Joseph's (8-13, 4-5 A10) at 2 p.m. inside Hagan Arena in Philadelphia, Pa. The contest will be streamed live on the Atlantic 10 network, while an audio broadcast will take place on WFUV.org.

A win would give the Rams a season-series sweep over the Hawks for the first time in program history, a three-game win streak for the first time in the series, and will move head coach Stephanie Gaitley to 80 career wins, which would be the second most in Fordham history.

Last Time Out
Graduate student Tiffany Ruffin had not scored over the first 39:54 of the game, but she arguably made the biggest play when she recorded her career-high fourth steal and was fouled with six seconds left with her team up one. Ruffin sank both free throws, and the Fordham women's basketball team dodged a game-tying three-point attempt at the buzzer from St. Bonaventure to escape with a 54-51 victory Thursday night (2/5) inside the Rose Hill Gym in a nationally-televised contest on SNY.

Fordham led nearly 36 minutes in the contest and held the advantage until the Bonnies' Nyla Rueter drilled a three-pointer to cap a 12-1 run and give the visitors their first lead of the game, 45-44, with 3:30 to go.

After senior Emily Tapio scored on a layup to give the Rams the lead back, St. Bonaventure scored the next four to go in front by three, before sophomore Hannah Missry drained her third trey ball of the game to deadlock the game at 49-49 with 2:08 left.

The Bonnies scored on their next possession to retake the lead, and Missry tied it back up at 51-51 with a pair from the charity stripe at the 1:31 mark.

St. Bonaventure was set up to take the lead after forcing a Fordham turnover with 45 seconds left, but Imani Outlaw missed a jumper, and sophomore Danielle Burns corralled the rebound and was fouled with 19 ticks to go. She made the first, the Rams called timeout, and she missed the second. The Bonnies had a chance to win the game down one, but Ruffin made the key steal.

Tapio collected her first double-double of the season with 13 points and a career-high 17 rebounds. Missry led all scorers with 15 points and added five boards, while junior Samantha Clark added 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocks.

Fordham jumped out to a few six-point leads over the opening 20 minutes, before five straight points from Missry gave Fordham its largest lead of the game, 20-9, with 3:08 remaining in the first half.

The Rams failed to score the rest of the half, which allowed St. Bonaventure to net the final eight points to slice the deficit to 20-17 at the half.

Both sides struggled from the field in the first half, with Fordham connecting at a 26.9 percent (7-of-26) clip, and the Bonnies at 23.1 percent (6-of-26).

The Rams stretched their lead back out to eight after halftime when Tapio's jumper produced a 29-21 lead. St. Bonaventure fought back to cut its deficit back to four, before Fordham took temporary control and increased the advantage back to double digits at 43-33 with 7:48 to go. The Bonnies would start their 12-1 run on the next possession.

Shooting percentage increased in the second half, with both sides shooting 41 percent. The Rams finished the game shooting 34.5 percent (19-of-55) and made 5-of-16 from distance, while St. Bonaventure finished at 33.3 percent (20-of-60) and just 2-of-10 from downtown. Fordham also struggled at the free throw line (11-of-18), and the visitors canned 9-of-13. The Rams also edged the Bonnies on the glass, 42-41, and assisted on 15 of their 19 buckets.

Saint Joseph's
2014-15 Season: 8-13 (4-5 A10)
When: Sunday, Feb. 8 - 2 p.m.
Where: Philadelphia, Pa. (Hagan Arena)
Series History: Saint Joseph's leads 35-6 (since March 3, 1972)
Last Meeting: Jan. 15, 2015 - Fordham 57 Saint Joseph's 47 (in Bronx, N.Y.)
What You Need To Know: The Hawks have won three of their last five games since falling to the Rams on Jan. 15 in the Bronx. They have won their last two and three of four, with victories over St. Bonaventure (66-48), at Davidson (57-52), and last time out against La Salle (70-64). The Hawks, who are 6-3 at home, feature three players averaging double figures in scoring. Ciara Andrews leads the way with 13.2 points per game, while Natasha Cloud adds 12.2 points and 5.8 rebounds per game and team-best 6.4 assists per game, which leads the Atlantic 10, and steals per game (2.0), which ranks fifth, while ranking second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9). Sarah Fairbanks chips in 10.4 points, a team-high 6.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game, which ranks sixth in the conference while connecting on 31-of-37 free throws. Also, Kathlee Fitzpatrick leads the Hawks in three-pointers, having made 44 of the team's 77 to go along with 9.8 points per game. She also has made 21-of-24 free throws.

Up Next
The Rams will have week off from competition before returning to the road next Sunday, Feb. 15 when they take on Rhode Island for a 2 p.m. contest in Kingston, R.I.