Clark's Big Night in Her Final Home Game Leads Women's Basketball Over St. Bonaventure, 77-68

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BRONX, N.Y. -- Senior Samantha Clark poured in a team-high 20 points, grabbed a career-best 17 rebounds and rejected a game-high three shots in her final home game inside the Rose Hill Gym, as the Fordham women's basketball team rallied from 14 points down in the second quarter to win going away against second-place St. Bonaventure, 77-68, Wednesday night in Atlantic 10 action. With the victory, the Rams improve to 13-15 (8-7 A10) on the season, while the Bonnies fall to 22-6 (11-4 A10) overall.

Junior Hannah Missry added 13 points, and her four-point play at the 6:27 mark of the third quarter not only capped an 18-3 run to give Fordham a brief 42-41 lead, but the three-pointer was the 234th of her

career, which is the most in program history passing Heather Donlon, who held the record of 233 for 23 years.

Sophomore Asnate Fomina came off the bench to net a career-high 14 points, junior Danielle Burns scored all 11 of her points in the decisive fourth quarter that saw the Rams outscore the visitors, 28-19, and freshman Lauren Holden added 10 points and four assists to round out five players scoring in double figures.

Clark, who played all 40 minutes for the 11th time this season, shot 8-of-10 from the field and made both of her three-point attempts, while Burns added four assists as well.

In a contest that featured the top two scoring defensive teams in the conference, a track meet broke out. Fordham jumped out to an early 10-4 lead over the first two minutes thanks to five points from Missry, a triple from Holden and a bucket from Clark.

However, over the next five minutes, St. Bonaventure used a 17-2 run to take a nine-point lead, before stretching out its advantage to 26-15 with 1:39 left in the opening quarter. The Rams answered with two layups from Clark to go into the second stanza trailing, 26-19.

The Bonnies took their largest lead of the game, 38-24, with 7:15 remaining before halftime, but that was when Fordham would make its move. Fomina knocked down a trifecta, and Clark found junior Danielle Padovano, who nailed a three to bring the Rams to within nine. The trifecta started a half-ending 7-0 run that crawled Fordham to a halftime deficit of 41-36.

St. Bonaventure, who at one point was shooting 80 percent from the floor in the second quarter, shot 51.7 percent (15-of-29) and made its first seven three-pointers to finish 7-of-8 over the first 20 minutes.

The Rams, though, would not be outdone, as they also shot 51.7 percent (15-of-29) and 6-of-15 from distance. The one difference was the Bonnies made 4-of-6 free throws, while Fordham missed its only attempt.

Fordham stretched is run to 13-0 to start the second half, as Missry's record-breaking triple tied the game, before her free throw to complete the four-point play produced the Rams first lead since 10-9 at the 7:01 mark of the first quarter.

But St. Bonaventure quickly answered with six straight points to take a five-point advantage at 47-42 with 4:15 left in the frame. The Rams responded right back with seven in a row, as a three from Clark was sandwiched between four points from Fomina to navigate Fordham back in front, 49-47, before the Bonnies tied the contest at 49-49 entering the final 10 minutes.

St. Bonaventure drew first blood in the fourth quarter to take a one-point lead, before Clark answered with her second three of the game. After the Bonnies tied the game at 52-52, Burns began to take the game over, as her bucket at the 8:52 mark gave the Rams the lead for good at 54-52.

After the Bonnies cut the deficit to three, Burns quickly increased the lead back out to six for the second time in the quarter with her only trifecta of the game, 63-57, with 5:21 remaining. St. Bonaventure then scored the next four, but Burns converted an old-fashion three-point play to move the Rams in front by five, 66-61, with 2:09 to go.

The visitors once again climbed back to within three on their next possession, but once again, Burns had the answer, as her second consecutive three-point play sunk the hopes of the Bonnies and produced a 69-63 lead with 1:34 left in the game.

Over the final 76 seconds, Fordham drilled all eight of its free throw attempts to clinch the thrilling 77-68 victory. The 77 points is season high for the Rams, clipping their previous high of 76 set against George Washington earlier this month.

Fordham finished the game shooting 47.2 percent (25-of-53) and knocked down 10-of-27 from distance. But the Rams won the game at the free throw line, as they connected on 17-of-18, including all 17 attempts in the second half.

The defense held St. Bonaventure to under 40 percent (11-of-28) in the second half and only 3-of-8 from behind the arc. The Bonnies finished at 45.6 percent (26-of-57) and 10-of-16 from downtown, but they only made 6-of-11 from the charity stipe.

Fordham lost the rebounding battle, 33-30, but the Rams turned the ball over a season-low eight times. They forced nine turnovers and outscored St. Bonaventure, 15-7 on points off turnovers.

Mariah Ruff led all scorers with 21 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Miranda Drummond and Katie Healy both added 14 points for the Bonnies. Healy also collected a double-double with a team-high 11 rebounds to go along with a team-best four assists, sharing team honors with Nyla Rueter, who chipped in eight points.

Fordham returns to action this Sunday, Feb. 28 when it travels to Dayton, Ohio to take on Dayton in the final game of the regular season. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. and will be broadcast live on the American Sports Network (ASN). Check local listings.