Women's Basketball Hosts La Salle Saturday in Play 4Kay Game

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The fifth-place Fordham women's basketball team (11-13, 6-5 A10) looks to bounce back in conference play when the Rams return to the Rose Hill Gym to host 13th-place La Salle (4-20, 1-10 A10) Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Fans can watch the game online for free on the Atlantic 10 Digital Network or listen to the game for free online on WFUV.
 
SCOUTING LA SALLE: The Explorers, who were projected to finish in 13th place in the Atlantic 10, sit in 13th place in the conference standings after finally earning their first conference victory Wednesday night, 66-57, over Massachusetts at home to snap a 10-game losing streak. La Salle is led by Amy Griffin, who leads the conference in scoring at 18.3 points per game. She also adds 6.6 rebounds per game, 38 steals and 20 blocks. Micahya Owens adds 13.0 points per game and 37 steals, while Adreana Miller chips in 9.5 points per game. Jasmine Alston leads La Salle in rebounding (6.8 rpg), assists (149) and steals (52).
 
SERIES HISTORY: Saturday's meeting will be the 46th in the series, which dates back to Jan. 28, 1984 when the Explorers won, 93-89, to start a 14-game win streak in the series. The Rams finally got on the board with a 73-65 victory inside the Rose Hill Gym on Jan. 27, 1990. Fordham has won the last three in the series after being swept during the 2011-12 season in Coach Gaitley's first season (L, 69-62 at LS; L, 56-55 at home). The Rams defeated the Explorers three seasons ago in Philadelphia (69-49, Feb. 6, 2013), won at home two years ago, 43-42 (Feb. 15, 2014), and last season at La Salle, 70-59 (Jan. 8, 2015).
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Rams saw their three-game win streak come to an end Wednesday night when it fell to Saint Joseph's, 61-51, in Atlantic 10 action inside Hagan Arena.

Fordham trailed 17-15 after the first 10 minutes and 28-25 at the break, as sophomore Danielle Burns scored 10 points in the first half. The Rams shot only 32.1 percent (9-of-28) and just 1-of-7 from distance, while Saint Joseph's connected at a 46.4-percent (13-of-28) clip and made 1-of-3 from behind the arc.

Sophomore G'mrice Davis, who managed only eight minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, came out smoking to start the third quarter and scored 13 of Fordham's 18 points in the stanza to bring the Rams to within two, 45-43, heading into the final 10 minutes.

Fordham continued to trail by two at 47-45 when Davis knocked down a one-handed jumper off the glass at the 8:07 mark, but it was the closest the Rams would come, as the Hawks scored the next four en route to finishing the game on a 14-6 run. Fordham climbed to within five with at 54-49 with 3:41 to play, but Saint Joseph's responded with five straight to put the game away.

Davis paced the Rams with 19 points (17 in the second half) and seven rebounds, while Burns added 12 points and six boards. Senior Samantha Clark added seven rebounds and six points but failed to score after the first quarter, and junior Hannah Missry netted eight points and made two more triples to move within five of the all-time record at Fordham.

The Rams finished the contest shooting 35.1 percent (20-of-57) and only 2-of-11 from three, but did win the battle on the glass, 35-32. The Hawks, meanwhile, finished at 45.5 percent (25-of-55) and turned the ball only six times while forcing 12 miscues.
 
SATURDAY IS PLAY 4KAY: Saturday's contest will start off the annual Play 4Kay pink weekend for breast cancer awareness. The Rams will don pink uniforms, and fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of the efforts to raise breast cancer awareness and funds for research on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.
 
FORDHAM TO HOST NEW YORK LIBERTY YOUTH BASKETBALL CLINIC FEBRUARY 13: Fordham Athletics is proud to announce the third in a series of women's basketball clinics this season. This one, which is slated for Saturday, Feb. 13, will be conducted by the New York Liberty beginning at 12 p.m. Registration will take place from 11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Tipoff between the Rams and La Salle is at 2 p.m. and all clinic participants will receive a ticket to the game. Those interested in participating in the clinic can register online at fordhamsports.com/liberty.

The New York Liberty clinic will feature a pre-game Q&A with Fordham Head Coach Stephanie Gaitley, current players and Liberty Director of Player Development Teresa Weatherspoon as part of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. A full clinic will follow in the Lombardi Center featuring New York Liberty representatives. Participants will receive a Liberty t-shirt, shoelaces and rally towel as well as two tickets to a future New York Liberty game. The cost of the clinic is only $30 and includes admission to Fordham's game against La Salle. Additional game tickets for non-participants, parents and family members are just $2.
 
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/800 REBOUND 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 1,168 career points to rank 10th on the all-time list and was the 15th player in program history to score 1,100 points. Clark also recently grabbed her 800th career rebound in the win over George Mason and now has 868 for her career, which ranks third all-time at Fordham.
 
MISSRY AT SECOND: Junior Hannah Missry now has 229 career three's, which ranks second on the all-time list at Fordham. She now needs five 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 29 times resulting in 29 victories. The Rams are 39-4 in such instances under Coach Gaitley and have won 30 straight. This occurred 12 times last season and seven times season with the victories over Manhattan, Lafayette, Central Connecticut, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, Davidson, Saint Joseph's and Rhode Island.
 
SPEAKING OF DEFENSE: The Rams had been locking teams down defensively over the last 10 games prior to Davidson last time out, allowing only 50.6 points per game, including a season-best 40 points to Davidson and Saint Joseph's, the lowest such point total since Fordham yielded 36 in a 36-point victory at Central Connecticut Dec. 9, 2014. Over the 10-game stretch, the Rams only allowed 57 points or less in each contest. Nationally, the Rams rank 30th in scoring defense (56.2).
 
CLARK IN NATIONAL RANKINGS: Senior Samantha Clark ranks 31st in minutes played (8:47:00), 34th in double-doubles (10), 26th in minutes played per game (36.83), 40th in total rebounds (212) and 55th in rebounds per game (9.2).
 
MISSRY IN NATIONAL RANKINGS: Junior Hannah Missry ranks 19th in the country in 3-PT FG's made per game (2.87), 14th in total made 3's (66) and 78th in three-point field goal percentage (.377). Missry is also 63rd in the nation in minutes played (817:00) and 69th in minutes played per game (35.52).
 
DANIELLE BURNS NAMED ATLANTIC 10 PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Fordham women's basketball standout Danielle Burns was named the Atlantic 10 Conference Women's Basketball Player of Week, it was announced Monday, Feb. 8 by the league for games played Feb. 1-7. The junior scored a career-high 31 points, including 18 in the second half, as Fordham defeated George Washington, 76-69, last Wednesday (Feb. 3). Burns followed with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists in a win against Massachusetts Saturday (Feb. 6). For the week, the Gainsville, Va., native averaged 21.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists on 15-of-22 (.682) shooting from the field and 4-of-7 (.571) from beyond the arc.
 
WHEN G SCORES IN DOUBLE FIGURES...: The Rams are 8-5 and 5-1 in Atlantic 10 play when sophomore G'mrice Davis scores 10 or more points. Davis is coming off a 19-point, seven-rebound effort at Saint Joseph's, and she scored 16 points in the win over George Washington, her highest scoring output since tallying a career-high 21 points in the win over Davidson Jan. 2, and followed that up with a 10-point, nine-rebound effort, narrowly missing a sixth double-double for the season.
 
FOMINA RETURNS: Sophomore Asnate Fomina returned to action in the game at Saint Joseph's after missing the previous nine games with an injury.
 
FIRST THREE-GAME WIN STREAK: With the victory at Massachusetts, the Rams constructed their first three-game win streak of the season. The last time Fordham won three or more in a row was the final two games of the 2015 regular season coupled with the win over Richmond in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinals. The Rams won three or more in a row four different times last year.
 
ONLY SIX WAS NECESSARY: The Rams only used six players in the wins over George Washington and Massachusetts. Starters G'mrice Davis (34, 36), Danielle Burns (38, 40), Samantha Clark (40, 39), Lauren Holden (31, 40) and Hannah Missry (39, 40) all logged over 30 minutes, while Danielle Padovano was the lone player off the bench (18, 5) in both contests. The starters combined for 195 of the possible 200 minutes in the win over UMass.
 
UP NEXT: The Rams return to the road Wednesday, Feb. 17 when they return to Richmond, Va. to take on Richmond for the only time this year, with tipoff slated for 7 p.m.