BRONX, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team battled back from a 14-point first-half deficit and escaped with a 70-67 victory over Central Connecticut in first round action of the Women's National Invitational Tournament Thursday night inside the Rose Hill Gym. With the victory, the Rams improve to 21-11 on the season and advance to the second round of the WNIT, while the Blue Devils finish their year at 19-13.
The visitors, who scored the first eight points of the game, drilled their first eight shots and connected on 13-of-14 to jump out to a 25-11 lead at the 12:11 mark of the opening half.
Nearly one minute later, sophomore
Hannah Missry drained a trifecta to trigger a 9-1 spurt, as freshman
G'mrice Davis' layup pulled Fordham to within three at 28-25 with 7:19 to go before halftime. But CCSU responded with six unanswered to extend its advantage back out to nine.
The Rams crawled back to within five at 34-29 on junior
Samantha Clark's layup with 2:17 left in the opening 20 minutes, before the Blue Devils moved back in front by eight. However, graduate student
Tiffany Ruffin beat the first-half buzzer with a layup to slice the deficit to 37-31 at the half.
CCSU shot 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from the field over the first stanza, while Fordham connected at 37.1 percent (13-of-35). The Rams also turned the ball over eight times, which led to 10 Blue Devil points off turnovers.
Fordham fell behind eight to start the second half and crept back to within three when Missry swished another trey ball, before the visitors answered with a 12-4 flurry to once again lead by double digits, 52-41, with 13:07 remaining.
Senior
Emily Tapio scored on the Rams' next possession to start the final comeback. An 11-2 spurt navigated the Rams to within two when sophomore
Danielle Burns made a pair from the line. After CCSU went back up by five, Missry tied the contest at 57-57 with another three, capping a 16-5 run.
The Blue Devils regained the lead two more times, and the Rams tied the game two more times until Burns' bucket with 4:35 left produced the first lead of night for Fordham, an advantage it would not relinquish.
The lead stretched to as many as six with 59 ticks to go and shrunk to two after the visitors converted a three-pointer with 10 seconds left. Missry made 1-of-2 free throws with seven ticks remaining, and CCSU's game-tying three from the right corner fell short, allowing the Rams to escape with the victory.
Fordham shot 43.8 percent (14-of-32) in the second half to finish at its season average of 40.3 percent (27-of-67), including 5-of-15 from distance. The Rams also made 11-of-16 free throws, won the battle on the glass (41-38), and took much better care of the basketball in the second stanza (two turnovers) to finish with 10.
The defense limited the Blue Devils to 39.3 percent (11-of-28) over the final 20 minutes, which ultimately aided the victory. CCSU finished at 48.3 percent (28-of-58) overall, 5-of-9 from distance and 6-of-12 from the line.
Five Rams scored in double figures, with Ruffin leading the way with 18 points and nine boards to go along with three assists and a career-high five steals in 40 minutes. Missry tied a season high in three-pointers with five (on 10 attempts) to finish with 16 points, while Tapio, Clark and Burns all finished with 10 points. Clark also collected her second double-double of the season after corralling a game-high 10 boards and added two steals. Tapio handed out a game-high four assists and grabbed five boards, while Burns also recorded five rebounds in doing her all her damage off the bench.
Amanda Harrington paced the Blue Devils with 18 points and six rebounds, while Kayla Miller added 14 points and nine boards. Camden Musgrave and Tejahne Malone scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, with Malone pulling down nine rebounds.
Fordham returns to action this Sunday, March 22 when it travels to Queens, N.Y. to take on local-rival St. John's in the second round. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. inside Carnesecca Arena.
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