Women's Basketball Suffers First A-10 Loss at Saint Joseph's

Box Score (pdf)

Philadelphia, Pa. – The Fordham women's basketball team suffered its first conference loss of the season on Wednesday night, at Saint Joseph's, 47-44, snapping a six-game winning streak in the process that stretched back three weeks. Fordham falls to 15-6 (6-1 A-10) on the year, while the Hawks' fourth straight win improves them to 7-11 (4-2 A-10) overall.
 
"Winning on the road is tough," Head coach Stephanie Gaitley remarked, "And it was a tough shooting night. We need to learn from this and move on."
 
It was an off-shooting night for the Rams, who had scored at a 42% clip or better in five of the last six games, hitting just 15-of-59 shots (25.4%) for the second-lowest rate of the year following the trip to Notre Dame in mid-November, then the #1 team in the country. G'mrice Davis was instrumental in the effort once again, notching her 12^th double-double of the year early in the second half and finishing with 22 points and 19 rebounds, plus a block and a steal over all 40 minutes.
 
The game began very slowly, with neither team finding their shooting stroke due to their foe's tough defense. It was easily the lowest scoring quarter for either team, with Fordham holding a 4-3 advantage after the first 10 minutes of play. The Rams shot 1-of-19 in that opening frame compared to Saint Joseph's 1-of-14 mark. Fordham grabbed eight offensive rebounds, and the Hawks had five, but neither team could find the bottom of the net. Each team had one basket and it was Kate Kreslina's free throws that were the difference.
 
The second quarter was a bit more open, with the Hawks holding a 14-11 advantage heading into the media timeout. Davis notched her first three baskets of the game during the stretch and Missry's banked three was offset by back-to-back Sarah Veilleux triples. Saint Joseph's came out of the break with vigor and scored six unanswered points to prompt a Fordham timeout. However, there would be no scoring over the final two minutes and change as defense and poor shot selection again reigned. Saint Joseph's would take a 21-15 lead into halftime.
 
Davis was again more involved to start the third quarter, notching two quick buckets to reach 10 points and 12 rebounds. The Hawks' defense locked down over the next four minutes and the hosts were able to stretch the lead back to six with scores from Adashia Franklyn and Veilleux. With the score, 25-19, Danielle Burns stepped up with a big finish in traffic and converted the and-one opportunity to cut the deficit to three, her first points of the game. Saint Joseph's leading scorer Chelsea Woods answered with a jumper and Alyssa Monaghan picked Anna Kelly's pocket right after for a lighting quick 4-0 run to push the lead to seven, the largest of the evening, 29-22, with 2:43 left in the third quarter, and again Gaitley called timeout. Fordham kept chipping away, first with free throws by Asnate Fomina, then a three from Kreslina. Jaryn Garner hit a midrange pull-up and with the seconds ticking down, Davis grabbed a tough offensive board in traffic and her running lay-in fell at the buzzer to get the Rams within two, 31-29.
 
Fordham traveled well to Hagan Arena and the sections surrounding the Rams' bench jumped to their feet when Davis received Fomina's pass off a pick and roll and knotted the game up at 31-all. The play wouldn't of been possible if not for Tiffany Suarez's earlier offensive board, as well. However, the Hawks buckled down and enjoyed an 8-2 run over the next five minutes, thwarting Fordham attempts and converting their own. Davis stopped the bleeding with free throws but Woods again converted the traditional three-point play on the other end. Davis kept it up with a mid-range look and Holden netted one of two freebies before Monaghan kept the lead the same a personal 3-0 run on a jumper and one free throw. With 1:20 to play and her team down six, Missry got the ball on a broken play in the far corner and drained her look to cut the deficit to four once again, 45-41.
 
Saint Joseph's gave the Rams a chance at the end by missing several key free throws. First, Franklyn missed two attempts under the basket, getting her rebound twice then getting fouled. She would hit one of two freebies. The crowd erupted seconds later when Davis' layup rolled around the rim, fell in, and the referee's whistle signaled a blocking foul. Davis converted to get within two, 46-44, with 30 seconds to go. With both teams in the bonus, Woods was fouled and sent to the line. The junior had been hitting her attempts from the charity stripe at a 86.5% clip heading into the game but both of Woods' shots rimmed out, giving the Rams a full possession to tie things up. However, miscommunication and hastiness led to an errant pass out of the reach of Davis and the Hawks once again had the ball. Franklyn was fouled intentionally and was able to hit just one of two, giving the Rams one last opportunity. With seven seconds, Fordham ran the length of the court but Kreslina's last-second heave didn't fall.  
 
The Rams matched a season-high 18 offensive rebounds and their 42 total boards were second-most this year, but Fordham were unable to make them count. Fordham committed 16 turnovers to the Hawks' 12, while each team tallied just six assists. Saint Joseph's were a force defensively in the paint, with seven blocks led by Franklyn's four. The Rams continued defending the perimeter well, limiting the hosts to just 2-of-11 shooting from deep, but shot just 3-of-17 themselves.
 
Neither the 22 points nor the 19 boards were season-highs for Davis in her return to her native Philadelphia, but it was her fifth game with more than 20 points and 11^th game with 13 or more rebounds. Missry finished with eight points on 3-of-8 shooting to go with four boards but the other three starters combined to shoot 3-of-27 from the floor. Fomina led the way with three assists off the bench in 14 minutes and Kelly notched two steals in eight minutes but also committed a season-high five turnovers.

The six-game winning streak was snapped but so was a 38-game stretch of Fordham wins when holding opponents at or below 50 points. The last time the Rams lost in this way was against Saint Joseph's in the 2013 A-10 Championship Game at the Barclays Center, 47-46.
 
Fordham will look to get back its winning ways at home – this Saturday at 2 p.m. against VCU.