Women's Basketball Wins Fourth Straight, 53-49, at George Mason

Box Score

Fairfax, Va. – The Fordham women's basketball team's defense and free throws down the stretch helped hold on to a close 53-49 win at George Mason Saturday afternoon after a late Patriots rally. With the win, the Rams' fourth straight, Fordham improves to 13-5 and 4-0 in A-10 play, while George Mason falls to 9-8 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
 
It was a low-scoring affair until the fourth quarter with neither team scoring over 20 points in any period and just Fordham's 16-point second quarter as the lone frame with either team above 11 points before that final period. Mason led a furious rally in the fourth but clutch baskets and free throws allowed the visitors to hold on for their 13^th win of the season.
 
Junior forward G'mrice Davis double-doubled for the fifth straight game and 10^th overall with 14 points and 14 rebounds to go with a block and a pair of steals over 35 minutes. She's now got 10 games of 13 or more boards. Every other starter finished with eight or nine points.
 
Fordham started off fast with a 7-4 lead at the first quarter media timeout around a Danielle Burns jumper, Lauren Holden triple, and Kate Kreslina layup. Mason responded with a quick 7-0 run out of the break but the Rams' defense locked down for the remainder of the frame as Davis notched her first two buckets to knot the game up, 11-11, at the end of the first quarter.
 
Another Davis layup gave her a personal 6-0 run and the Rams the lead although George Mason continued to answer. Both teams traded 4-0 runs heading into the media timeout but it was the visitors' turn to make a run, one that would carry into halftime. Fordham enjoyed a 7-4 run out of the break with all baskets made by recent 1,000-point scorer Hannah Missry on a triple, free throws, and a midrange pull-up. Jewel Triggs and Danielle Padovano each hit 1-of-2 FTs for the last points of the half and Fordham holding a 27-22 lead.
 
The third quarter would prove to be the exact opposite of the fourth, a sluggish 10 minutes where both teams combined for 7-of-20 shooting despite just three turnovers. No player scored more than Davis' four points in the frame but George Mason held the edge, 9-8, to trail four entering the final period. It took two and a half minutes until Jacy Bolton's layup dropped for the scoring to start and on the next possession, Holden drained her second three of the contest. Kreslina added a jumper to push the lead to eight, 32-34, and another drought would begin and last nearly four minutes. Alexsis Grate's free throws broke the skid and Allie McCool got her team within four, 32-28, before Davis hit a jumper on McCool in the post half a minute later. Davis' late layup would give the Rams a brief six-point lead, 36-30, at the end of the quarter.
 
George Mason came out firing in the fourth, scoring seven points around an Anna Kelly layup to get within one, 38-37, over the first two and a half minutes. Kelly again answered on the next possession, draining a tough pull-up jumper. The two teams traded buckets after that but it Grate's two consecutive and-one's that knotted the game up, 44-44. Burns kept pace with Grate, scoring four points during the run, and pulling down a crucial offensive rebound, as well, but the Patriots' shot continued to fall as a wayward Kara Wright shot caromed off the rim and to the free throw line where teammate Sylvia Maxwell caught it and canned a jumper for her first points of the afternoon to take a two-point lead, the team's first since late in the first quarter.
 
The Rams did not wilt, however, and instead turned on the pressure, forcing tough Mason shots that stopped falling. On the next play, Kreslina found Davis wide open under the basket and the junior tied the game, 46-46, with just under three minutes to play. The redshirt freshman, over a minute later, backed down and then beat her defender to the rim for a two-point lead that proved to be enough. Kreslina added three more free throws down the stretch and, after Wright hit a pull-up three with five seconds to go to get within two, Missry put the game out of reach by hitting both of her freebies.
 
George Mason's Wright led the way with 16 points and 11 rebounds but shot just 6-of-15 from the floor. G'mrice Davis paced Fordham with her fifth straight double-double: 14 points and 14 rebounds. Kreslina and Missry each notched nine points with the former adding three boards, two assists and a steal over 21 minutes in her second game back after a three-game absence. Holden and Burns each tallied eight points, with the former returning from a one-game absence due to illness. Burns had her worst shooting performance of the season, hitting just 3-of-15 from the field, but adding eight rebounds, three on the offensive glass, and a team-high three assists in 35 minutes.
 
Fordham outshot and outrebounded George Mason and limited its turnovers to under 10 for the fourth time this season and third time in the last six games. The Rams grabbed 37 rebounds compared to the Patriots' 34 and shot 37% (20-of-53) compared to their 34.0% (18-of-53). However, the Rams shot 3-of-15 from deep and were under their season average at the charity stripe with just 10-of-14 made (71.4%).
 
Fordham returns to the Bronx to host Richmond this Wednesday, January 11, at noon for the team's annual Field Trip Day that will see nearly 2,000 local schoolchildren cheer on the Rams in the Rose Hill Gym.