Women's Basketball Begins Full A-10 Slate at Rhode Island Sunday

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team (10-5, 1-0 A-10) begins Atlantic 10 play in earnest with a New Year's Day matinee at Rhode Island (4-9, 0-1 A-10) at 2 p.m. The game will be live streamed at the link above without commentary but WFUV will have the call, as always, also accessed through the link above.
 
Women's Basketball Promotions
I interested youth groups should check out the Women's basketball program's Harry's Hustler's young group initiative to attend home games and participate in a variety of activities and opportunities.
 
Last Time Out
Fordham hosted the 10th annual Holiday Classic in the Bronx on Thursday and Friday afternoons and split its two contests to earn third place, with a tight loss to Buffalo preceding a comprehensive victory against UNC Asheville. It wrapped up an exciting and busy December month that saw the Rams go 6-3.
 
Series History vs. Rhode Island
This will be the 35th meeting between the two schools all-time. Rhode Island currently leads the series, 19-15, and have enjoyed an 11-6 advantage in Kingston. Rhode Island took the first game of the series, 72-39, on February 20, 1981 in the Bronx. Interestingly, there has never been a contest on a neutral court. Rhody took both match-ups before Fordham joined the A-10. In recent years, Fordham has won six of the last seven games, including last year's 50-42 win on Rose Hill. Under Gaitley, Rhody's lone victory came two seasons ago on February 15, 2015, when those Rams enjoyed a 71-56 result at home.
 
Scouting the Rams
Rhode Island sit at the current iteration of the A-10 standings and are riding a six-game losing streak. They pushed St. Bonaventure in Wednesday's 78-69 loss on the road, including hitting a program-record 13 threes, seven from leading scorer Charise Wilson to tie a school record, but ultimately fell. Rhody began their campaign with a tough match-up at Syracuse, a 46-point loss to the ACC power, before defeating Marist at home, 82-61. Losses at Toledo and at home to Penn preceded by three straight wins over Samford, at Fairfield, and at UMass-Lowell. The month of December brought six tough contests and six losses: at Brown, Bryant, Michigan State, at Kansas, Dartmouth, and at the Bonnies.
 
Charise Wilson is the name to know with Rhode Island as the junior guard is second in the A-10 with 17.6 points per game, including 34 points against the Bonnies, the third 30-point game of her season. The rest of the A-10 has a combined three such instances. Wilson is also fourth in assists per game (4.4), third in steals (2.1), and joint-third with two threes per contest. However, she has racked up a league-leading 60 turnovers in just 13 games. Classmate Dominique Ward is playing a team-leading 35.0 minutes per game, sixth-most in the conference, and is Rhody's leading rebounder, plus averaging 1.2 blocks per game. Dina Motrechuk is a defensive force in the paint and leads the A-10 with 2.5 blocks per contest, 33 total.
 
As a team, Rhode Island are averaging the most points to opponents, 70.5 per game, and are the worst free throw shooting team, hitting just 107-of-207 freebies, good for a .517 mark. Next worst is Davidson with a .582 average. The Rams also struggle to keep opponents off the glass which will help Fordham's thin front court. Rhody are allowing 43.8 boards per game or 569 total through 13 games. Perhaps most glaring of all is the team's 19.8 turnovers per contest, a league-high, although the Rams have kept to just over 16 their last three contests. On the flip side, Rhode Island's active defense has led to a league-high 9.1 steals per game (118 total), spurred on by Wilson.
 
Gaitley Eight Wins Away
Stephanie Gaitley reached 100 wins with the Fordham program against Little Rock on November 19 and is currently at 108 for her Rams career. Gaitley needs just eight more victories in the Bronx to surpass Kathy Mosolino ('74-'80) to become the all-time winningest head coach in Fordham history.
 
Gaitley's 900th Game
The double overtime win over Albany on November 22 was Stephanie Gaitley's 900 career contest as a head coach. She has a 572-339 record over 31 seasons with five different schools.
 
Second-Most Wins in A-10 History
Continuing the trend of Gaitley milestones, the win over Albany was Gaitley's 157th all-time as a coach of an A-10 school (Saint Joseph's and Fordham), passing Theresa Grentz for second-most all-time. Gaitley now has 165 but needs 76 more to break Joe McKeown's all-time record of 240 that he accumulated in 17 seasons at the helm of George Washington from 1989-2008.
 
The Road to 1,000
Senior guard Hannah Missry is set to become the 19th member of the 1,000 point club in Fordham program history, needing just nine points to get there. She is currently averaging 7.7 points per game. Missry is already the program's leading three-point shooter, having passed Heather Donlon's long-standing record of 233 last season, with 269 career makes through 109 appearances (104 starts).
 
The Bronx is Our House
Despite the 58-54 loss to Buffalo yesterday, the Rams are 9-2 this season in the Bronx, as opposed to a 0-2 record on the road and 1-1 on neutral sites. Fordham began this season with six straight home victories before falling to St. John's two weeks ago.
 
Defense, Defense, Defense
Since the start of the 2013-14 season, Fordham has held its opponents to less than 50 points 34 times resulting in 34 victories. Overall under Gaitley, Fordham is 44-4 in such instances and have now won 36 straight with the most recent win over UNC Asheville on Friday afternoon, limiting the Bulldogs to a season-low 42 points. The Rams are 4-0 this season holding opponents under 50 points (and 5-0 holding them at 51 and under).
 
Defense Part Deux
Through 15 games this season, Fordham's defense has limited opposing scoring to just 56.6 points per contest, ranking 37th in the country. Part of that is due to the Rams' stingy perimeter D that has held opponents to just 27.2% (53-for-195) shooting from beyond the arc, currently situated at 36th nationally. Recently, Princeton's solid three-point shooting offense was held to just 3-of-14 shooting from behind the arc, while St. John's shot just 3-of-8 from deep. However, Manhattan sank 7-of-19 threes on Saturday, the most that Fordham has allowed so far this season.  The Rams held Niagara to 5-of-14 shooting from deep a week ago, Buffalo to 4-of-10, and UNC Asheville to just 1-of-8 from deep.
 
Three and D
The Rams are 10-5 so far through their first 15 games and a big reason for their success has been the team's success around the perimeter on both sides of the ball. Fordham is 40th in the country in three-point attempts (292) and, fittingly, 40th in makes (98) while playing terrific defense along the perimeter that has led to teams shooting just 27.2% from deep.
 
Leading the A-10
The Rams currently lead the conference in two categories: free throw percentage (75.7%) and scoring defense (56.6). The Rams are also second in rebounding defense (34.7), third in three-point defense (27.2%), and fourth in threes made per game (6.5) and field goal percentage (40%). At the individual level, G'mrice Davis leads the league in defensive rebounds per game (9.5) and is second with 12.3 boards per game behind Massachusetts' Maggie Mulligan.
 
Davis Boarding with the Best
G'mrice Davis has been a force on the glass this season, putting up career numbers across the board that has her near the top of Division I's rebounding lists (as of 12/31/16): Davis' 9.5 defensive rebounds per game are second-most in the nation, her 185 total rebounds rank second, and her 12.3 rebounding average is third. Additionally, her seven double-doubles in nine games rank 14th in the country, including in both games of this week's Holiday Classic -- 13 pts, 15 reb vs. Buffalo and 10 pts, 14 reb vs. UNC Asheville. Davis has tallied 14 or more rebounds in nine contests.
 
It Takes Two to... Rebound at a Historic Rate
Anne Gregory ('80) is one of the NCAA's all-time best rebounders. She is the only Ram in school history to average 10 or more rebounds over a single season and she did it all four of her years in the Bronx. Her lowest total, 12.4, came in 1979-80 during her senior year. G'mrice Davis' 12.3 boards/game average ranks just beneath that mark through 15 games. She's at the very least on pace to become just the second Ram to ever grab double figure rebounds per contest over a season. Samantha Clark averaged 9.6 last year, the fifth-highest clip ever in school history.
 
Actively One of the Best from Deep
Hannah Missry has amassed 269 three-pointers in her career in the Bronx and is fifth among active players in Division I for all-time downtown makes. She has been alternating between fifth and sixth with Akron's Hannah Plybon. The pair are at least 10 behind Washington's Kelsey Plum, who has 282, and Boston College's Kelly Hughes, who has 284 but was held 0-of-2 against the Rams in mid-November. Missry also recently passed Suntana Granderson (Xavier '04-'07) for eighth-most threes in Atlantic 10 history and needs just two more to pass Lisa Cermignaro (George Washington '94-'97) for seventh.
 
112 Straight For Burns
Senior Danielle Burns played in her 100th straight game in maroon and white against Little Rock. Burns hasn't missed a single contest since arriving in the Bronx, making 112 consecutive appearances and 60 starts, including 37 straight. Fellow seniors Hannah Missry and Danielle Padovano recently hit the century mark against Grambling State and Princeton, respectively.
 
Career-Highs for G'mrice
The junior forward is playing the most minutes of her career this season and is putting up terrific numbers. Davis has set three new career-highs in rebounds, first with 15 at #1 Notre Dame, then 17 against Texas Tech, including seven on the offensive glass, and finally 21 against Grambling State, one of the top single-game numbers in A-10 history. Following the Battle of the Bronx, Davis has now set two new scoring career-highs, as well, first with 22 points against Boston College and now 24 against the Jaspers. At Iona, Davis played the entire 40 minutes for the first time in her career.
 
Missry For Three!
Hannah Missry tied and broke the all-time Fordham career three-point record last season against St. Bonaventure (2/24/16) with two timely second-half bombs, tying and moving past Heather Donlon (1989-93) on the all-time list. Missry finished her season with five more long-range efforts over the next three contests and began her senior campaign with 239. On the season, the senior is shooting 30-of-90 from deep (33.3%) and has hit at least one three in all but two contests this season. Her 1.8 per-game average is fourth in the conference.
 
70 To Go
Missry is 70 three-pointers away from breaking Jessica Jenkins' all-time Atlantic 10 record of 338 threes set at St. Bonaventure from 2009-12.
 
100 Starts
Missry made the 100th start of her career in her 105th appearance against St. John's. She was, however, held scoreless for just the sixth time in her entire Fordham career.
 
Fordham's Charity
Fordham is 37th in the country thus far with a 75.7% clip from the free throw line. The Rams moved to the top of the Atlantic 10 leaderboard with a perfect 10-of-10 from the line against Boston College and have hit 133-of-171 in total from the stripe. The team's season-high came, unsurprisingly, in the double overtime win against Albany, sinking 18-of-22 freebies.
 
Hot & Cold Holden
Holden has made 30 consecutive starts at point guard, including all 15 this season. The sophomore's year started off hot, leading the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage and being ranked in the top-3 in percentage from beyond the arc. After the hot start, the sophomore guard went through a small slump over two games in early December in which she shot 1-of-16 from the field and 0-of-12 from long range, however her assists started to rise. Aside from a basket-less game against Manhattan, Holden is turning it up again, with six double-digit games in her last seven, averaging 11.0 points on 43.9% shooting, plus 2.5 assists per game. Holden is averaging 8.9 points per game on the year and leads the team with 10 double-digit performances.
 
Efficient Paddles
Before entering the starting lineup two games ago for the ill Kate Kreslina, senior forward Danielle Padovano was averaging a career-low 10.2 minutes per game but excelling in limited time off the bench, shooting a team-best 58.3% (14-for-24) from the floor and 66.7% (6-for-9) from behind the arc. Her start to the season was incapsulated in her 4-of-4 performance from the field and 2-of-2 from deep against Niagara, the first game this season in which a Fordham bench player finished in double figures. Since entering the starting lineup, Padovano has averaged just one point and two rebounds in 18.5 minutes, while shooting just 1-of-7 from the field.
 
Fomina Facilitating Off the Bench
The Latvian junior guard is averaging an even 16.0 minutes off the bench in all 15 contests but leads the team with 33 assists. Fomina fell one shy of her career-high of six assists at Iona, and matched her career-high of five rebounds in the against both Texas Tech and UNC Asheville. Over her last four games, Fomina has averaged just 2.5 points per game but has tallied 10 rebounds and four straight games of three or four assists. The junior also played a season-high 27 minutes against UNC Asheville.
 
Kreslina Named A-10 Rookie of the Week
Redshirt freshman Kate Kreslina was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week two weeks ago, the first honor of her young career. The Latvian guard averaged 12.5 points against Iona and Princetn, including a career-high 19 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the close win over the Tigers on Saturday. The freshman hit several big shots in the fourth quarter, from the field and the line.
 
Up Next
Fordham have another quick turnaround when it hosts Davidson on Wednesday, January 4 at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on the A-10 Digital Network and WFUV.