Women's Basketball to Host Central Connecticut Thursday in WNIT First Round

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team (20-11) is set to host Central Connecticut (19-12) in the first round of the 2015 Women's National Invitational Tournament this Thursday inside the Rose Hill Gym at 7 p.m. The appearance in the WNIT is the second ever in program history, with the first coming in 2013, and is the third consecutive postseason appearance for the Rams, who also earned their second-ever NCAA Tournament bid in 2014.

Thursday's contest also marks a rematch from a game played earlier this season between Fordham and the Blue Devils. The Rams walked away with a 72-36 victory at CCSU on Dec. 9.

Last Time Out
The Rams saw their defense of the Atlantic 10 championship come to an end Saturday, March 7, as they fell to #21/19 George Washington, 72-60, in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Tournament inside the Richmond Coliseum. The difference in the contest came at the free throw line, where GW outscored the Rams by 15. The Colonials made 23-of-35 freebies, while Fordham swished 8-of-14.

Trailing by two at the second media timeout in the first half, sophomore Danielle Burns knocked down a jumper to start an 8-2 spurt, as junior Samantha Clark's bucket produced a 19-15 lead at the 9:00 mark.

Fordham was unable to take advantage of multiple opportunities to extend its lead, before the Colonials started rolling with a 14-2 run to take their largest advantage of the half, 29-21, with 3:22 remaining before halftime. The Rams crept back to within four, but still trailed 33-25 at the break.

The Rams sliced the deficit to within six on three different occasions over the first 2:19 of the second half but could never get any closer. GW slowly stretched its advantage out to 56-39, its largest lead of the game at the 10:20 mark, before Fordham started to chip away to get within 12. But senior Emily Tapio fouled out with 6:38 to go, and Clark was disqualified 38 seconds later.

Despite their starting front court fouling out, the Rams fought back and crawled back to within eight at 64-56 after graduate student Tiffany Ruffin made a layup with 2:50 remaining. The Colonials then scored eight of the next 12 points to clinch the victory.

Fordham shot 38.7 percent (24-of-62) from the field, with five or six shots made with a foot on the three-point line, where the Rams finished 4-of-13 from distance. The Colonials shot nearly 54 percent in the second half to finish at 45.3 percent (24-of-53), which included just a 1-of-2 effort from behind the arc.
Both sides turned the ball over 12 times, but Fordham was outscored, 14-7, on points off turnovers. The Rams also lost the battle on the glass, 42-34, as GW held a 14-7 advantage in second-chance points.

Ruffin played all 40 minutes and flirted with a triple-double after finishing with a team highs of 14 points, eight boards and seven assists to go along with two steals. Clark added 11 points, four boards and a game-high three steals, while Tapio chipped in 11 points and four boards.

Central Connecticut
2014-15 Season: 19-12 (14-4 NEC)
When: Thursday, March19 - 7 p.m.
Where: Bronx, N.Y. (Rose Hill Gym)
Series History: Fordham leads 2-1 (since Dec. 22, 2008)
Last Meeting: Dec. 9, 2014 - Fordham 72 CCSU 36 (in New Britain, Conn.)
What You Need To Know: The Blue Devils, who were picked to finish last in the Northeast Conference, proved the preseason prediction wrong and won the NEC regular season title with a record of 14-4. CCSU was upset in the semifinals of the conference tournament by eventual champion St. Francis Brooklyn, 71-63, in double overtime inside Detrick Gymnasium. TeJahne Malone, who did not play in the first meeting with the Rams, was named Second Team All-NEC after pacing the Blue Devils with 10.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 51.6 percent (112-of-217) from the field. She is also third on the team in steals with 30 and is connecting at a 75.2-percent clip from the free throw line. Camden Musgrave, who was named to the NEC All-Rookie Team adds 9.2 points per game off the bench and has knocked down a team-high 51 three-pointers (on 144 attempts) for a team-best 35.4 percent.

Up Next
If the Rams are victorious, they play the winner of the Army – St. John's game, which will also be played Thursday night in Jamaica, N.Y. The second round contest is slated to take place between March 21-24, with a date, time and place still to be determined.