Gaitley Nabs Program-Best 116th Win in Big Win over Massachusetts

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball program has a new all-time winningest coach in Stephanie Gaitley after the 31-year veteran picked up win number 116 in the Bronx with a resounding 74-43 victory over Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon. It was a perfect moment, in front of her husband, Frank, and her three sons, Dutch, D.C., and Coop, friends, alumni, and fans during the team's annual Play4Kay event, that the Rams played perhaps their most fluid Gaitley-inspired gameplan, threes and defense. The Rams rained down a season-high 16 triples and held their third straight opponent, and 10th this season, under 50 points. With the win, its third in a row, Fordham improves to 18-9 overall and 9-4 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Minutewomen fall to 9-17 and 3-10.
 
"It was a great win today on Rose Hill," Gaitley remarked after her record-setting win, passing Kathy Mosolino (1974-80), "We played an outstanding defensive game and the offensive gates opened in the second half. I'm thankful to share this special occasion with so many special people!"

After suffering four straight losses over a three-week span after matching the program's best-ever start to conference play with six straight wins, the Rams may have regained their footing. Fordham has ripped off three straight victories, all at home, with terrific defensive efforts. However, today's offensive outburst was the first time the team had scored over 67 points, and third time over 60, since the 85-72 win over Davidson on January 4. The Rams' 16 three-pointers on the afternoon best their previous season-high by five, the 53.3% mark from downtown and the 30 attempts were both a season-highs, as well. Fordham shot 50.9% from the floor overall, the second time this season they've hit more than half their attempts.
 
The score was tied just once, at 2-2, and Fordham never trailed in the contest. The Rams were feeling it from the get-go, jumping out to an 11-2 lead, including six points for G'mrice Davis, that extended to 14-9 at the end of the first period. Massachusetts stepped it up after that with a 9-3 run between the first and second frames capped by Hailey Leidel's layup cutting the deficit to three, 14-11. Fordham and UMass traded buckets, with two Asnate Fomina threes doing the bulk of the heavy lifting for the Rams, but the visitors again got to within three, 24-21, when Maggie Mulligan notched her fourth basket of the game with 4:16 to play in the half. Hannah Missry, who had been held without a field goal in three of her past four contests, burst through with a much-needed trey to push the lead back to six. Nearly two minutes later, Lauren Holden's  third triple of the contest fell through, and the Rams took a 30-24 lead into the break.
 
The Rams had already taken 16 three-point shots in the first half, sinking six, but those numbers exploded in the second half. While holding Massachusetts to just five points on 2-of-8 shooting in the third frame, Fordham scored 19 on 7-of-13 and 5-of-7 from deep, pushing its lead up to 20, 49-29, at the end of the third quarter. Holden and Missry sank back-to-back threes and Kate Kreslina drilled a mid-range jumper to start the half with an 8-0 run. Leidel and Ryan Holder's five points sandwiched around another Holden three would be the Minutewomen's offense in the frame and the Rams ended the period on another 8-0 run, with Missry and Fomina threes, plus a Holden steal and fastbreak layup.
 
Missry sank two free throws, after the Massachusetts bench was assessed a technical, to begin the fourth, and the Rams offense continued to flourish, hitting 9-of-14 shots, including another 5-of-7 mark from behind the arc. Missry added two more in the frame, as did Kreslina, and Danielle Padovano chipped in one, as well. The Fordham lead was as large as 37 on two occasions before UMass posted an 11-5 stretch over the final five minutes.
 
Fittingly, Holden and Missry finished with 17 points on identical 5-of-7 marks from downtown. The former finished one point shy of her career-high and shot 6-of-10 overall, adding two rebounds, three assists, and a steal in 27 minutes. G'mrice Davis notched her 18th double-double of the year and 14th in her previous 16 games, with 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting and 12 rebounds, plus three assists, in 29 minutes. Kreslina added 10 points, four boards, and three dimes, while Fomina finished with a season-high nine points off the bench, matching her career-high with a trio of threes, five rebounds, and four assists in just 15 minutes.
 
Fordham outrebounded Massachusetts, 31-27, continuing its trend as the A-10s top defense on the glass, and provided 18 assists to 12 turnovers, the second-most assists on the year.
 
The Rams have just three remaining contests on the schedule, first at Davidson on Tuesday night, February 14, at 7 p.m., before the home season finale and Senior Day against Dayton next Saturday, February 19, against first-place Dayton, on NBC Sports Network.