Women's Basketball at Boston College on Thursday

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Bronx, N.Y. – With Friday night's season-opening win over UMBC, the Fordham women's basketball team (1-0) not hit the road for two straight nonconference contests, first at Boston College (1-1) on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. for the Eagles' annual Field Trip Day event in front of thousands of screaming schoolchildren.
 
Last Time Out vs. UMBC
The Rams fell behind to the visiting Retrievers, 14-11, after the first quarter of action as three freshmen starteres got acclimated to the collegiate game, but Fordham turned it around thereafter, taking a 23-21 halftime lead thanks to a late Lauren Holden three with under a minute left in the first half, and never looking back. Although UMBC would threaten several times by cutting the deficit to within two, especially with senior forward G'mrice Davis picking up her fourth foul late in the third period, the Rams would see the game out with a solid fourth quarter display and terrific free throw shooting from Holden and freshmen Bre Cavanaugh and Johanna Klug down the stretch. Davis, who tallied 24 double-doubles a yearr ago, notched her first of the season, with 10 points and 11 rebounds over 30 minutes. Holden and Klug shared game-highs of 13 points, the latter adding seven rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal across 30 minutes to a solid all-around game. The German international did nearly all of her damage in the second half. Cavanaugh added 12 points over 39 minutes, while freshmen Kendell Heremaia and Zara Jillings posted all-around lines, as well. Heremaia scored two points but added five boards, a team-high four assists, and a team-best two steals, while Jillings scored four points, added five boards, and an assist and steal. Both played 26 minutes off the pine.
 
Series History
Boston College holds a 5-3 all-time series advantage against Fordham since 1971. The two schools met five times in that decade, with the Eagles winning four of the five. After nearly 20 years off, the Rams picked up their second-ever victory, on "neutral" ground in Cambridge, Mass., before another decade break in the series, when Boston College, ranked #17 in the country, defeated the Rams, 82-40. Fordham took last year's meeting, 56-49, in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
Davis Named Preseason First Team All-Conference, All-Defensive
As mentioned above, Davis' breakout junior season saw her earn First Team All-Conference and All-Defensive honors, and the league's coaches predicted her to do so again as a senior. Read more about it by clicking here.
 
Fordham Picked to Finish Fifth in Preseason Poll
Likewise, the league's coaches also predicted an identical fifth-place finish for Fordham in the preseason poll. You can click the link above for more information.
 
Davis Approaching 1,000
Davis is fast approaching becoming the 20^th Ram to ever score 1,000 or more points in a Fordham uniform. The senior forward is 20 points away, sitting at 980 for her career, after scoring 10 points on Friday against UMBC. Above her on the all-time list is Carol Elser ('85), with 1,031.
 
Fordham Debuts
Five freshmen made their debuts on Friday against UMBC, the most since 2011. Three of those freshmen started the contest, the most in the last 15 years. Joey Klug's 13 points were the most by a freshman in her debut since Hannah Missry scored 14 in 2013. Klug became the first freshman to record both a block and a steal in her debut over the last 15 years, as well, and the first to record at least one block since Samantha Clark had two in her 2012 debut. Cavanaugh's 39 minutes were the most by a freshman making her debut since Megan Mahoney played all 40 minutes in 2007.
 
Gaitley Makes History
Coach Gaitley earned win number 116 at Fordham in a big win over Massachusetts at home last February, breaking a tie with Kathy Mosolino (1974-80) for the most wins in program history. Gaitley finished the year with 120 victories over her six seasons in the Bronx, an average of 20 per season. She's now up to 121 wins, which are the second-most of any of Gaitley's stops in her 32-year career as a head coach, ahead of her 116 win at Richmond (1985-91) but a ways away from her 10-year stint at Saint Joseph's (1991-2001), in which she racked up 196 wins. Gaitley has a career 585-346 record and has the second-most overall wins among active A-10 coaches, behind Saint Louis' Lisa Stone, and has the second-most wins as an Atlantic 10 coach, with 176, but is 64 behind Joe McKeown's record of 240 that he accumulated during his 17 years with George Washington from 1989 to 2008.
 
Rams in November
Under Coach Gaitley, Fordham is 24-13 during the month of November, including Friday's 55-46 win over UMBC in the Bronx, which made it back-to-back campaigns with a season-opening victory. The Rams are 4-3 in season openers, as well.
 
This Is Our House
Fordham finished the year 16-3 at home a season ago, as opposed to a 5-7 record on the road and 1-2 at neutral sites. They were also 7-1 during conference play for the second year in a row. Since Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold a 72-24 (75.0%) record at home and 67-16 (80.7%) mark over the last five seasons.
 
Defense, Defense, Defense
A staple of the Gaitley-led Rams is defense, and no stat better represents that than Fordham's 50-5 record when holding opponents under 50 points. Last January, Saint Joseph's defeated the Rams, 47-44, at Hagan Arena in Philadelphia, ending a streak of 38 consecutive contests with such victories. The last time before that loss, coincidentally, was also against the Hawks, in the 2013 A-10 Championship game at the Barclays Center, 47-46. Fordham was 10-1 last year when holding opponents under 50 points, and Friday night's victory over UMBC continues the current streak. As a team, the Rams' 55.6 points per game allowed last year was tops in the Atlantic 10 and was top-25 in the country, as well.
 
The "Yutes"
The Rams graduated three seniors last May and saw two other players depart. The turnover means there are five returning players and an incoming group of nine freshman, only one of whom will sit out the 2017-18 season. Fordham is one of the youngest teams in the country, with 64.3% of its roster made up of freshman. An unofficial survey yielded that the Rams rank 22^nd in terms of percentage of underclassmen on the roster, and, with no sophomores and nine freshmen, rank joint-first with percentage of freshman. You can view the 2017-18 roster here.
 
Class of 2018
Gaitley and the program announced a four-person recruiting class on Thursday morning: guards Chloe Chaffin and Cat Polisano, and forwards Kaitlyn Downey and Megan Jonassen. Read more about the newest Rams here.
 
2016-17 Review
Last year's Rams finished the season with a 22-12 overall record and 11-5 in conference play, good for a fifth-place final standing. Their efforts were rewarded with a WNIT bid, the program's third in the past five years under head coach Stephanie Gaitley, and Fordham, like its other two trips to the postseason tournament, made it past the first round, this time by rallying to defeat Georgetown on the road, before falling at Penn State a couple days later. Senior forward G'mrice Davis led the way, becoming just the second Ram to ever average a double-double over the course of the season, and was chosen as an Atlantic 10 First Team All-Conference and All-Defensive honoree. Davis was the second player to ever earn First Team honors (Erin Rooney in both 2013 and 2014), and third to garner All-Defensive recognition (Arielle Collins in 2013 and Samantha Clark in 2016). Davis finished the campaign second in total rebounding (436), rebounding per game (12.8), defensive boards per game (10.0), and third in double-doubles (24), but is the returning leader in those categories after graduations. Davis was recently predicted to repeat both of her accomplishments for her senior campaign, and was chosen as one of 20 players in Division I to the inaugural Katrina McClain Award watch list, to be given annually to the nation's top power forward.
 
The class of 2017, Danielle Burns, Hannah Missry, and Danielle Padovano, made up some of the most durable players in Fordham history, all three rankings in the top-seven in career games played and, in Missry's case, second all-time in career starts. The trio made up 32.1% of the Fordham offense a season ago. Missry, who broke the school's all-time three-pointers made record as a junior, continued to add to her tally, finishing her career with 310, which ranks third all-time in Atlantic 10 history.
 
Coach Gaitley earned win number 116 at Fordham in a big win over Massachusetts at home last February, breaking a tie with Kathy Mosolino (1974-80) for the most wins in program history. Gaitley finished the year with 120 victories over her six seasons in the Bronx, an average of 20 per season. The 120 wins are the second-most of any of Gaitley's stops in her 32-year career as a head coach, ahead of her 116 win at Richmond (1985-91) but a ways away from her 10-year stint at Saint Joseph's (1991-2001), in which she racked up 196 wins. Gaitley has a career 584-346 record and has the second-most overall wins among active A-10 coaches, behind Saint Louis' Lisa Stone, and has the second-most wins as an Atlantic 10 coach, with 175, but is 65 behind Joe McKeown's record of 240 that he accumulated during his 17 years with George Washington from 1989 to 2008.
 
Up Next
The Rams continue on the road for a Sunday afternoon tilt at Albany, with tipoff set for 2 p.m. Afterwards, Fordham will return home to host Northern Colorado next Friday night in the Bronx.