Women's Basketball Wraps Up Home Slate Wednesday Against St. Bonaventure

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The sixth-place Fordham women's basketball team (12-15, 7-7 A10) looks to bounce back from a heart-breaking two-point loss last time out when the Rams welcome second-place St. Bonaventure (22-5, 11-3 A10) to the Rose Hill Gym Wednesday at 7 p.m. for the final home game of the regular season. Fans can watch the game for free online on the Atlantic 10 Digital Network or listen to the game for free online on WFUV. The Bonnies used a big fourth quarter to defeat the Rams, 55-41, earlier this season in St. Bonaventure, N.Y. back in early January.
 
SCOUTING ST. BONAVENTURE: The Bonnies, who were picked to finish ninth in the conference, currently sit in a three-way tie for second place and have won two straight and three of four, with a surprising loss at Massachusetts, but a come-from-behind home victory in overtime against George Washington and a convincing home win over Saint Louis. St. Bonaventure's two other losses are to VCU and at Duquesne, which snapped a 16-game win streak. Katie Healy, who is a Preseason First Team All-Atlantic 10 selection, leads the way with 15.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 51.9 percent (148-of-285) from the field. Miranda Drummond adds 12.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game while shooting nearly 36 percent (49-of-138) from distance. Nyla Rueter, who chips in 11.1 points per game and a team-best 45 steals, is the top three-point threat at 37.7 percent (66-of-175), and Mariah Ruff is the floor general with a team-high 102 assists to go along with 9.7 points per game.
 
SERIES HISTORY: Wednesday's meeting will be the 36th meeting in the series, which dates back to Jan. 6, 1996 when the Rams won 86-65, in what would be their first of four victories at St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies took control of the series with a pair of seven-game win streaks (12/4/99 - 12/31/02; 1/26/07 - 3/4/11). Under Coach Gaitley, Fordham is 4-3, including a pair of victories last season, with the road win giving the Rams their first victory in St. Bonaventure since the 2005-06 season while snapping the Bonnies 15-game home win streak. The loss is January snapped Fordham's three-game win streak in the series, but the Rams have won four of the last six.
 
LAST TIME OUT: Sophomore Asnate Fomina's potential game-tying runner off the glass rimmed in and out at the buzzer, and the Fordham women's basketball team lost a heartbreaker to Saint Louis, 51-49, in Atlantic 10 play Sunday on Senior Day inside the Rose Hill Gym. Saint Louis retook the lead, the sixth change of the game, with 2.2 seconds left when Jackie Kemph drove left and knocked down the game-winning jumper off the glass. Fordham then called timeout to advance the ball past half court and set up the one last play. The Rams tied the contest at 49-49 with 1:28 remaining when senior Samantha Clark used a quick touch pass out of the post to find junior Danielle Padovano for a triple from the left wing.

The Billikens led 41-37 entering the final quarter and increased their lead out to eight, 47-39, at the 4:55 mark after tallying six straight points to force Fordham to call a 30-sec timeout. The Rams responded with back-to-back three's from junior Danielle Burns and Padovano to climb back to within two with 2:48 remaining. Clark was fouled with 2:16 to go and knocked down 1-of-2 free throws to cut the deficit to 47-46, before Saint Louis scored on its next possession to go back up by three. After Padovano's trey ball tied it, the Ram defense forced a stop and then had to deal with a jump ball call favoring the Billikens. Once Fordham made a second stop, the Rams had the ball with a chance to take the lead. Clark was given the opportunity with 22 ticks left and missed a layup on a no call, which set up the game-winning possession for Saint Louis.

Fordham trailed 18-12 after the first 10 minutes but outscored the Billikens, 18-6, to lead 28-26 at halftime. Saint Louis then answered in the third quarter by using a 15-9 advantage.

The defense held the Billikens to 20 points below their season average, as the visitors finished the game shooting 41.5 percent (22-of-53) and just 3-of-11 from distance. The Rams finished at 36.0 percent (18-of-50) and knocked down 8-of-23 from behind the arc. Saint Louis also won the battle on the glass, 37-28.

Burns and freshman Lauren Holden both had 12 points to pace Fordham in scoring, while Clark collected her 12th double-double with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with a team-best four assists and a game-high two blocks while playing all 40 minutes for the tenth time this season. Sophomore G'mrice Davis just missed a double-double as well with eight points and nine rebounds. Clark also became the third player in program history to score 1,000 points and register 900 career rebounds, and the tenth player to score 1,200 career points, as she now sits at 1,202 points and 903 rebounds.
 
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/900 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 1,203 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 grabbed her 900th career rebound against Saint Louis and now has 903 for her career, which ranks third all-time at Fordham. She is the third player in program history to score 1,000 points and grab 900 career rebounds.
 
MISSRY AT SECOND: Junior Hannah Missry now has 232 career three's, which ranks second on the all-time list at Fordham. She now needs two 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 30 times resulting in 30 victories. The Rams are 40-4 in such instances under Coach Gaitley and have won 31 straight. This occurred 12 times last season and eight times this season with the victories over Manhattan, Lafayette, Central Connecticut, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, Davidson, Saint Joseph's, Rhode Island and La Salle.
 
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 (55.6).
 
CLARK IN NATIONAL RANKINGS: Senior Samantha Clark ranks 18th in minutes played (1007:00), 25th in double-doubles (12), 17th in minutes played per game (37.30), 27th in total rebounds (254) and 41st in rebounds per game (9.4).
 
OVER THE LAST SIX GAMES...: Junior Danielle Burns is averaging 16.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 50.0 percent (37-of-74) from the field, including 10-of-20 from distance and 14-of-16 at the free throw line. She is also averaging 37.8 minutes per game over the sample.
 
12: Senior Samantha Clark recorded her 12th double-double of the season when she scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while registering team highs of four assists and two blocks against Saint Louis. She also played all 40 minutes for the tenth time this season.
 
HOLDEN BREAKS FUNK: Freshman Lauren Holden broke out of her shooting slump with four triples to tie a season high while scoring 12 points in 36 minutes of action against Saint Louis.
 
 UP NEXT: The Rams conclude the regular season this Sunday, Feb. 28 when they travel to Dayton, Ohio to take on Dayton at 5 p.m. The game will be televised on the American Sports Network (ASN) -  check local listings.