Women's Basketball Looks to Snap Duquesne's 13-Game Win Streak Sunday on CBS Sports Network

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PITTSBURGH -- The Fordham women's basketball team (6-9, 1-1 A10) continues its Atlantic 10 road swing when it takes on Duquesne (14-1, 2-0 A10) in a nationally-televised contest on CBS Sports Network, with tipoff slated for Noon. Fans can also listen for free online on WFUV.
 
SCOUTING DUQUESNE: The Dukes, who are picked to finish third in the Atlantic 10, are one of the hottest teams in the country having won 13 in a row after to losing at then #25 Princeton, 94-66, the same Tiger team who the Rams led going into the fourth quarter on the road last month before falling, 55-44. Duquesne features five players scoring in double figures. DevaNyar Workman leads the way with 15.1 points and a team-best 8.8 rebounds per game, which ranks second in the conference. She is also one of the league's top free throw shooters at 89.1 percent (49-of-55), field goal percentage (49.0 percent, 50-of-102) leaders and three-point shooters (45.9 percent, 17-of-37). April Robinson, who is one of the top floor generals in the country and a Second Team Preseason All-Atlantic 10 selection, adds 14.6 points and 6.3 rebounds per game while dishing out 8.1 assists per game, which ranks second in the nation. Her 3.59 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks fourth nationally, and she leads the team with 29 steals. Amadea Szamosi is also shooting 49 percent (74-of-151) from the field and chips in 12.7 and 8.1 rebounds per game, while Kadri-Ann Lass and Chassi Omogrosso both average 11.3 points per game. Lass is shooting 48.7 percent (76-of-156) from the floor and grabs 6.5 rebounds per game to go along with a team-best 30 blocks. Omogrosso is shooting 45.5 percent (60-of-132), including 39.3 percent (33-of-84) from distance.
 
SERIES HISTORY: Sunday's meeting will be the 25th meeting in the series, which dates back to Jan. 11, 1996 when the Dukes handed the Rams a 74-63 defeat. Fordham's only road win in the series came in a 74-65 victory Feb. 4, 2007.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Rams were defeated by St. Bonaventure, 55-41, Thursday night in Atlantic 10 action inside the Reilly Center. 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 Burns added six and Douglas a season-best five.
 
PADOVANO NOMINATED FOR 2016 ALLSTATE WBCA GOOD WORKS TEAM®: Junior Danielle Padovano was selected as one of 257 total nominees (an all-time high) for the 2016 Allstate WBCA and NABC Good Works Team®, it was announced Wednesday, Dec. 1 by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Allstate Insurance Company. This distinguished award shines a spotlight on a select group of student-athletes who have shown dedication to community service and altruism in their communities. Padovano is the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC). The student-athlete is recognized to be at the heart of the athletics program. The mission of SAAC is to assist in the creation of an environment where all athletes have the opportunity to maximize their academic, personal, and social growth and provide them with tools for a productive and satisfying life during and after college.
 
550: Head Coach Stephanie Gaitley recorded her 550th career victory in the win over Lafayette Nov. 24.
 
1,000-POINT CLUB: Senior Samantha Clark became the 18th player in program history to score 1,000 points with her third-quarter layup with 30 seconds remaining in the stanza. She now has 1,068 career points, which ranks 15th. Clark also recently grabbed her 700th career rebound and now has 776 for her career, which also ranks fourth all-time at Fordham. She needs 17 more to move into third place.
 
MISSRY AT THIRD: Junior Hannah Missry now has 204 career three's, which now ranks third on the all-time list at Fordham. She now needs 30 more to become the program's all-time leader.
 
DEFENSE DOMINATING: Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, Fordham has held its opponents to less than 50 points 27 times resulting in 27 victories. The Rams are 37-4 in such instances under Coach Gaitley and have won 28 straight. This occurred 12 times last season and five times season with the victories over Manhattan, Lafayette, Central Connecticut, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi and Davidson.
 
SPEAKING OF DEFENSE: The Rams have been locking teams down defensively over the last seven games, allowing only 49.0 points per game, including a season-best 40 points to Davidson, the lowest such point total since Fordham yielded 36 in a 36-point victory at Central Connecticut Dec. 9, 2014. Over the seven-game stretch, the Rams have only allowed 57 points or less in each contest. Nationally, the Rams rank 51st in scoring defense (56.5).
 
HOLDEN ENTERS STARTING LINEUP: Freshman Lauren Holden made her first career start at St. Bonaventure and responded with six points on two made three's in 24 minutes of action.
 
DOUGLAS DOES WELL AT ST. BONAVENTURE: Freshman Alexia Douglas came off the bench at St. Bonaventure and established or tied season highs in seven different categories: points (8), field goals (3), rebounds (5), assists (1), steals (1), three-pointers (1) and minutes (27).
 
UP NEXT: The Rams return to the Rose Hill Gym this Wednesday, Jan. 13 when they host George Mason in their annual Kids Day Game, with tipoff slated for 12 p.m.