ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's basketball team was defeated by St. Bonaventure, 55-41, Thursday night in Atlantic 10 action inside the Reilly Center. With the loss, the Rams fall to 6-9 (1-1 A10) on the season, while the Bonnies improve to 13-2 (2-0 A10) overall.
Fordham trailed 12-5 after the first quarter, but a pair of free throws from junior
Danielle Padovano at the end of the stanza triggered a 14-0 run, as the Rams scored the first 12 of the second to take a 17-12 lead. Fordham held St. Bonaventure scoreless over the first 6:50 and nearly eight minutes total.
Freshman
Alexia Douglas scored the first five points of the second quarter, before junior
Danielle Burns tied it at 12-12 with a jumper. Senior
Samantha Clark followed with a layup to give the Rams the lead, and Burns capped the run with a trifecta.
The Bonnies responded with back-to-back three's to take a one-point lead, but another layup from Clark moved the Rams back in front, 19-18, with 2:18 remaining before halftime.
Two ties would then occur, with the last one coming at the 1:12 mark when Padovano connected on a jumper. But St. Bonaventure took the momentum into halftime when Gabby Richmond hit a second-chance layup with less than a second to give the home team a 24-22 advantage at the break.
To start the third quarter, the Bonnies increased their lead out to six until freshman
Lauren Holden, who made her first career start, knocked down a bucket from distance to slice the deficit to 29-26. However, St. Bonaventure closed out the quarter strong, eventually taking a 10-point lead, before Burns' buzzer beater brought Fordham to within eight at 38-30 after 30 minutes.
Clark tallied the first three points of the fourth quarter, which placed the Rams down 38-33 with 7:05 left, but the Bonnies took control after that with a 15-3 run over the next five minutes to take a 53-36 lead, before clinching the victory, 55-41.
Fordham only shot 27.3 percent (6-of-22) in the second half to finish the game at 31.1 percent (14-of-45), including just 5-of-18 from three-point range. St. Bonaventure shot 42 percent in the second half to finish at 38.5 percent (20-of-52) and knocked down 6-of-15 from distance. The Bonnies also held a 22-10 advantage in points in the pain, but the Rams won the rebounding battle, 34-29.
Burns and Clark, who moved into 15th place on the all-time scoring list, each finished with 10 points, while Douglas added a season-high eight over a season-best 27 minutes. Sophomore
G'mrice Davis grabbed a team-high eight boards, while Clark added six and Douglas a season-best five.
Katie Healy and Nyla Rueter both scored 14 points to pace St. Bonaventure, with Mariah Ruff chipping in 10. Miranda Drummond led all players on the glass with 10 boards.
Fordham returns to action Sunday, Jan. 10 when it travels to Pittsburgh, Pa. to take on Duquesne in a nationally-televised contest on the CBS Sports Network. Tipoff is slated for 12 p.m.
