Women's Basketball Fights to the End in 70-65 Loss to Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 Quarterfinals

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RICHMOND, Va. -- The Fordham women's basketball team left it all out on the court Friday night, as the Rams saw their season come to an end against third-seeded Duquesne, 70-65, in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship inside the Richmond Coliseum. With the loss, Fordham concludes the season with an overall record of 14-17, while the Dukes improve to 26-4 overall and advance to Saturday's semifinals against second-seeded Saint Louis.

The Rams, who trailed 18-8 at the end of the first quarter after spotting Duquesne a 9-0 lead, used a 9-0 run of their own over the first 2:30 of the second stanza to pull within one at 18-17 on freshman Lauren Holden's triple. However, Fordham went very cold from the field after that, scoring only one point, and did not make another basket until 44 seconds left in the half, before trailing at intermission, 31-22.

It appeared the Dukes were ready to blow the game wide open at the start of the third quarter, as they scored the first four points to stretch their lead to 35-22, promting head coach Stephanie Gaitley to call a 30-second timeout to settle down her team.

Out of the timeout, junior Hannah Missry knocked down the first of her three trey balls in the quarter to start a 20-8 run over the next 5:19, with a layup from Holden climbing the Rams to within one, 43-42. The Dukes eventually took a pair of four-point leads, and Fordham crawled back to within one three more times, with the last time coming at 51-50 when senior Samantha Clark scored on a layup with 46 ticks left in the frame. The Rams outscored Duquesne, 28-20, and shot 11-of-15 from the field, including 5-of-7 from behind the arc.

Fordham forced a turnover to start the final quarter, and junior Danielle Burns gave the Rams their first lead of the game, 53-51, with a three-pointer on their opening possession. But the Dukes quickly answered with six in row to retake a four-point lead, 57-53, with 7:20 remaining.

Junior Danielle Padovano ended the spurt with a three, which started an 8-2 flurry. After Clark cut the lead back to one at 59-58, the senior then converted an old-fashion three-point place at the 2:55 mark, which navigated Fordham back ahead, 61-59. The Rams then had a chance to extend their lead to five on their next possession, but a three from Padovano went halfway down before rimming out, and Duquesne tied the contest at 61-61 on its next possession. Fordham then turned it over on its next possession, and the Dukes capitalized and took the lead for good, 63-61, with 1:10 to go. The Rams committed another turnover, and Duquesne went back up by four with 28 seconds left.

Clark knocked down a jumper to slice the deficit to 65-63, and Fordham was forced to commit four fouls over the next four seconds to send the Dukes to the free throw line, where Deva'Nyar swished a pair with 20 ticks to go. Holden scored on Fordham's next possession to once again make it a two-point game at 67-65, before a foul with 14 seconds left sent Emilie Gronas to the line. She made the first, but a lane violation on the second gave the Rams hope, as they were only down three, 68-65, with a chance to tie.

Duquesne had a foul to give and used it with six seconds left. Fordham then inbounded the ball but turned it over with three ticks remaining to seal its fate. The Dukes made two final free throws to escape with the 70-65 victory.

In her final game as a Ram, Clark collected her 14th double-double of the season, as she finished with a game-high 20 points (14 after halftime) on 9-of-16 shooting from the field to go along with a team-high 12 rebounds and four assists. She ends her Fordham career with 1,263 career points, which ranks eighth all-time, 946 career rebounds, which ranks second, 149 blocks, which ranks third, and a rebounding average of 7.2 rebounds per game, which ranks sixth. Clark also tallied 297 rebounds this season, the fifth most in single-season history (Hall of Famer Anne Gregory has the top four), and her 9.6 rebounds per game this season ranks fifth as well (and Hall of Famer Anne Gregory also has the top four).

Holden tallied nine of her season-high 15 points after the break and added a season-best five rebounds and four assists, while Burns and Missry both finished with 11 points. Burns also tied her career high in assists with six to lead the team and finished with a team-high two steals. She ends the season scoring in double figures in 10 straight games.

The Rams shot 9-of-29 and 3-of-10 from distance over the opening 20 minutes but were a sizzling 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) and 7-of-12 in the second half to finish the game at 45.6 percent (26-of-57) and 10-of-22 from three to tie a season high in three-point field goals. Fordham also took good care of the basketball, turning it over only 10 times, but were outscored, 16-8, in points off turnovers despite forcing 11.

Rebounding was huge and was arguably the reason why Duquesne won the game, as the Dukes held a commanding 41-23 advantage, including a 10-2 edge on second-chance points. Duquesne also outscored the Rams, 11-3, at the free throw line and shot 46.7 percent (28-of-60) from the field. Fordham did limit one of the better three-point shooting teams in the league to just 3-of-15.

Workman paced the Dukes with 20 points and a game-high 17 rebounds to go along with four assists. Kadri-Ann Lass, who had a big first half, added 16 points, while Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year April Robinson also collected a double-double with 14 points and 10 boards to go along with six assists. Amadea Szamosi also reached double figures in scoring with 10.

One more accolade of note, the Rams finished with 205 three-pointers, the third most in single-season history.