Women's Basketball Drops Duquesne, 64-51, to Open A-10 Play

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Bronx, N.Y. – Atlantic 10 play began early this season, a new wrinkle introduced by the league, and the season's first conference contest involved the Rams and last year's A-10 Championship runner-up Duquesne, in the Bronx, a rematch of a five-point loss to the Dukes in the second round of last year's tournament. The Fordham women's basketball team walked away 13-point winners, 64-51, on the back of efficient offense and solid defense. With the win, the Rams improve to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in A-10 play, while the Dukes fall to 4-4 and 0-1 in league play.
 
"Tonight was a great team win," head coach Stephanie Gaitley remarked, "I am really proud of everyone but especially happy for Danielle Burns as she really stepped up to guide us to our first win against Duquesne at home [during my tenure]!"
 
Burns notched a season-high 22 points, 10 in the first half and 12 in the second, on 8-of-12 shooting and corralled a season-high seven boards over 30 minutes. Classmate Hannah Missry added 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from downtown.
 
Duquesne's Nina Aho, who recently earned an A-10 Rookie of the Week honor, started the game off with a jumper on the night's first possession before Fordham took the lead for good with an 8-0 run, including threes from Burns and Missry sandwiched around a Kate Kreslina layup. The Rams outscored the Dukes, 16-9, in the first period on 6-of-10 shooting, holding their opponents to just 3-of-12 from the floor with three turnovers. Five different Rams scored in the opening frame, including a Kreslina three-pointer to give the redshirt freshman a game-high five points.
 
Duquesne started the second quarter well, with a 7-3 run over the first five minutes, and, although the Rams pushed their lead back to seven thanks to two G'mrice Davis free throw makes and a Burns jumper, the Dukes pushed ahead with five quick points to get within two. However, Fordham's shots were falling on the night and the Rams ended the half on another 8-2 run. Junior Asnate Fomina canned a three-pointer from the wing off a Burns feed, who then snagged an offensive rebound on their next possession and put it back in. Duquesne's Brianna Thomas hit her free throws to get to five with 10 seconds to play. On the next possession, Missry got a decent look from deep but just missed her shot with the seconds ticking down. Lauren Holden, one of the shortest players on the court, skied for the board and pushed it back out to Missry, who promptly buried a very long-range bomb from the top of the arc as the buzzer sounded. Fordham went into the break with a 31-23 lead.
 
Duquesne again started a half off with a bucket; this time Amadea Szamosi to start the second. Davis hit 3-of-4 free throws on the next two possessions around a Kadri-Ann Lass layup, but that miss, on the fourth attempt, fell to Kreslina for a huge offensive board with the team holding a seven-point lead. That advantage grew four seconds later when the Latvian international fed Missry for her third make of the game from downtown, giving Fordham its first double-digit lead of the evening, 37-27. On the next possession it was Fomina feeding Missry and the senior did not err from her favored place beyond the arc, canning her third straight deep attempt.
 
Duquesne perked up a bit, down 13 late in the third quarter, and went on a 7-2 run over the next three minutes. Fordham's buzzer-beating theme continued, though, at the tail end of a 7-3 run to close out the period. Holden made her first and only make of the night to start the run, a jumper around a Mary Goulding screen. Goulding was fouled on the play and hit both of her free throws to get the lead back to 12. Lass answered with a three with 24 seconds to play and, with the game clock hurtling towards zero, Holden found Burns in the corner for a contested three that went through as the horn sounded.
 
Burns' momentum continued to start the fourth quarter, canning yet another downtown look after Conor Richardson hit one of two free throws on the other end. Burns' bomb gave Fordham its largest lead of the night, up 52-38, and the Rams would hover around that mark the rest of the way.
 
Fordham shot 46.7% on the night, its second-best mark of the season, on its second-fewest attempts from the field, 45, of the year. The Rams were deadly from deep tonight, hitting 10-of-20, the best percentage of the season to date. The Rams committed a season-low 11 fouls and scored their third-most points.
 
Davis and Kreslina each finished with nine points, the former missed her fourth double-double of the season by one point, also corralling 10+ rebounds for the third straight game. Davis had three assists but also committed a season-high seven turnovers in 23 minutes of action. Goulding and Holden each tallied four points, the latter notching a season-high four assists.

Fordham's defense held Duquesne's leading scorer, Chassidy Omogrosso, to just a single rebound in 33 minutes. Lass led the Dukes with 18 points, four rebounds, and three assists in 39 minutes.
 
Missry now has 255 career makes from deep in her career, currently making her fourth among active Division I players, and leaving her one away from entering the all-time Atlantic 10 top-10.
 
Coming into the game, Stephanie Gaitley and her Rams had won 33 straight games when holding opponents at 50 points or under. A late Lass three-pointer didn't allow that streak to grow but Fordham's defense definitely showed up tonight, holding the Dukes to just 32.2% (19-of-59) from the floor and nine turnovers.
 
Fordham hosts Boston College on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. That game will be broadcast live, as always, on the A-10 Digital Network and WFUVSports.org.