Career Highs Lead Women's Basketball Over George Mason, 66-54

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team return to the win column Wednesday afternoon when it defeated George Mason, 66-54 ,in Atlantic 10 action inside the Rose Hill Gym during the annual Field Trip Day festivities, as students from local schools in the area come to watch the game. With the victory, the Rams improve to 7-10 (2-2 A10) on the season, while the Patriots fall to 7-10 (2-2 A10) overall.

Junior Danielle Burns led the way with a career-high 17 points on a career-best eight field goals to go along with six rebounds over a career-high 37 minutes. Fellow classmate Hannah Missry broke out of her

shooting slump in a big way by knocking down five trifectas to finish with 15 points, while senior Samantha Clark posted her seventh double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 rebounds to tie a career high. She also added six blocked shots to tie a career best. Clark and Missry also played all 40 minutes. Junior Danielle Padovano also continued her strong play of late by chipping in eight points, three boards and a career-high three assists in 29 minutes off the bench.

Fordham shot 41.1 percent (23-of-56) from the field and made 8-of-25 from three-point range while knocking down 12-of-15 from the free throw line.  The defense held Mason to 32.2 percent (19-of-59) shooting, including just 3-of-9 from distance, although the Patriots knocked down 13-of-14 from the charity stripe. The Rams also won the rebounding battle, 40-34, recorded a season-high seven blocks and turned it over just 12 times.

Fordham jumped out to a 5-0 lead by a trey ball from Missry and a layup from Clark, as the Rams led the game wire-to-wire. The advantage eventually reached eight when sophomore Aaliyah Jones's basket made it 13-5 at the 2:06 mark, before Mason fought back to slice the lead to 13-11 after 10 minute of play.

Padovano delivered a three to start the scoring in the second stanza, which saw the Patriots climb to within one on three different occasions. A layup from Burns would produce a seven-point Ram lead with 1:53 left before halftime, but Mason knocked down a three-pointer with just under 30 seconds left in the half, and Fordham led by a score of 29-25 at intermission.

The visitors once again crept back within one point, this time with 4:43 left in the third quarter, before the Rams closed the first 10 minutes of the second half with six straight thanks to a pair of baskets from Burns sandwiching two free throws from Clark. Fordham led 40-33 after 30 minutes of play.

The fourth quarter saw a lot of scoring, as both sides combined to tally 47 points. The Rams saw their lead eventually dwindle down to two at 54-52 with 3:13 to go, but Fordham closed strong with a 12-2 run to clinch the victory, 66-54.

Kristi Mokube led all scorers with 20 points and recorded a double-double by grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds to lead the Patriots. Kara Wright and Tiffany Padgett each added 10 points, while leading scorer was limited to just two points on 1-of-13 shooting from the field. She did however dish out a game-best five assists.

The Rams return to action this Sunday, Jan. 17 when they welcome Saint Joseph's to the Rose Hill Gym for a nationally-televised Atlantic 10 contest on CBS Sports Network, with tipoff slated for 4 p.m.