Women's Basketball at St. John's Sunday for WNIT Second Round

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team (21-11) continues play in the 2015 Women's National Invitational Tournament this Sunday with second round action at St. John's (22-10) inside Carnesecca Arena. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m., with a live broadcast on ESPN3 and an audio broadcast on WFUVSports.org.

Last Time Out
The Rams 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 (3/19) inside the Rose Hill Gym. 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.

St. John's
2014-15 Season: 22-10 (11-7 BIG EAST)
When: Sunday, March 22 - 2 p.m.
Where: Jamaica, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena)
Series History: St. John's leads 19-5 (since the 1971-72 season)
Last Meeting: Dec. 4, 2004 - St. John's 64 Fordham 42 (in Bronx, N.Y.)
What You Need To Know: The Red Storm finished fourth in the BIG EAST but fell short of making the NCAA Tournament for the sixth. They started out the season 10-0 and 12-1, which ended with a 59-50 home victory over Seton Hall, who defeated the Rams inside the Rose Hill Gym, 56-43, on Dec. 5. St. John's fell to the Pirates two more times, including in the BIG EAST Tournament that sealed its WNIT fate. The Red Storm handled Army, 64-56, Thursday night at home in the first round. Aliyyah Handford leads the Red Storm in scoring at 19.5 points per game and in steals with 74 while pulling down 6.3 rebounds per game and shooting 46.9 percent (252-of-537) from the field. Danaejah Grant adds 16.8 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and is the team's top three-point shooter at 31 percent (31-of-100). Jade Walker chips in 8.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, while Amber Thompson pulls down 11.0 rebounds per game. She also leads the team in field goal percentage (.562) and blocks (72).

Up Next
If the Rams are victorious, they play the winner of the Villanova – Old Dominion game, which will also be played Sunday in Philadelphia, Pa. The third round contest is slated to take place between March 25-27, with a date, time and place still to be determined.