Tapio's Layup and Block in the Final Seconds Shocks Saint Joseph's, 48-47

Tapio Winning Basket Call on WFUV | Final Horn Call on WFUV

PHILADELPHIA -- 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.

With the victory Sunday inside Hagan Arena, the Rams improve to 17-7 (9-2 A10) on the season, while the Hawks fall to 8-14 (4-6 A10) overall. Head Coach Stephanie Gaitley also collected her 80th career victory at Fordham to move into second place on the all-time win list.

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.

Cloud led Saint Joseph's with 16 points, six rebounds and eight assists while Ashley Robinson added eight points and nine boards.

Fordham now has a week off until next Sunday, Feb. 15 when it travels to Kingston, R.I. to take on Rhode Island at 2 p.m.