Women's Basketball at Davidson on Tuesday Night

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team (18-9, 9-4 A-10) has bounced back after a four-game slide now with three straight victories, all in the Rose Hill Gym, and will look to keep its momentum up during the final three contests of the season, first with a Valentine's Day date at Davidson (5-20, 3-9 A-10) on Tuesday night.
 
Last Time Out vs. Massachusetts
After dropping four straight contests in mid-January, the Rams have gotten back to their terrific defensive ways, holding their last three opponents, all in the Bronx, under 50 points. Against UMass on Saturday, the Rams stifled the Minutewomen offense and exploded from behind the arc for 16-of-30 three-pointers, easily a season-high by five, and 50.9% overall shooting. Both Lauren Holden and Hannah Missry scored 17 points, each hitting 5-of-7 shots from downtown, while G'mrice Davis notched her 18th double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds across 29 minutes. Junior Asnate Fomina posted a solid all-around line of nine points, matching a career-high three triples, five rebounds, and four assists in just 15 bench minutes. Fordham never trailed in the contest and led by as much as 37 late in the second half.
 
Series History vs. Davidson
Fordham holds a 4-1 all-time record since the Wildcats joined the Atlantic 10 beginning with the 2014-15 season. Davidson won its first contest in the series last season in North Carolina, 69-51, on the back of two 19-point performances from Mackenzie Latt and the since-departed Dakota Dukes. Earlier this year, the Rams had their first 50% shooting performance as a team against the Wildcats, hitting 28-of-54 shots (51.9%) and 6-of-15 threes (40%), and were lead by a career-high 27 points from G'mrice Davis, who made a career-best 11 field goals on 17 attempts. The junior added two assists and two steals in 39 minutes. Anna Kelly also broke out in that game, scoring a career-high 18 points off the bench on 5-of-5 shooting and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe, also with a pair of steals and assists in 27 minutes. Hannah Missry and Kate Kreslina chipped in 14 points and combined to shoot 6-of-9 from behind the arc.
 
Scouting the Wildcats
The Wildcats boast two of the A-10's top scorers in Justine Lyon and Mackenzie Latt, averaging 14.9 and 14.2 points per game, respectively. The duo are also the team's two leading rebounders, with Latt's 7.6 boards pacing the squad and Lyon next with 5.0 per game. Latt has racked up 27 blocks and 47 steals already, while Lyon has 11 and 40, respectively, and both are efficient, shooting 44.0% and 42.7% from the floor, respectively. They are also third and fourth on the team in assists, as well. Chloe Johnson is the team's leading assister, with 97 thus far, and contributes 7.4 points per game.  The Wildcats lost an important contributer in Kianna Speight who has been limited to just seven starts. She was averaging 10.4 points per game. The remaining two starting positions have been rotated but the contributions have been minimal. The Wildcats, as a team, are getting outscored by nearly 11 points this season but rebound pretty well and are solid on the defensive end. Offensively, though, the squad shoots it at a 36.9% clip but allow opponents to shoot 40.7%, and the Wildcats aren't adept at three-point shooting, either, making just 69 on 281 attempts (24.6%), the fewest in the A-10. The Wildcats do get to the line a lot but only convert at a 63.9% rate. They have also struggled to keep hold of the ball, coughing the rock up 17.4 times a game.
 
Gaitley Makes History
Stephanie Gaitley reached 100 wins with the Fordham program against Little Rock on November 19 and has now won 116 games, passing Kathy Mosolino ('74-'80) for the most wins in program history. Gaitley tied and passed the milestone with two typical Gaitley-inspired performances, with three-pointers and excellent defense, holding both opponents below 50 points. She has now reached 116 wins at three different schools: Fordham, Richmond, and Saint Joseph's.
 
Gaitley's 900th Game
The double overtime win over Albany on November 22 was Stephanie Gaitley's 900 career contest as a head coach. She has a 580-343 record over 31 seasons with five different schools.
 
Second-Most Wins in A-10 History
Continuing the trend of Gaitley milestones, the win over Albany was Gaitley's 157th all-time as a coach of an A-10 school (Saint Joseph's and Fordham), passing Theresa Grentz for second-most all-time. Gaitley now has 173 but needs 68 more to break Joe McKeown's all-time record of 240 that he accumulated in 17 seasons at the helm of George Washington from 1989-2008.
 
Missry Hits 1,000 Points
Senior guard Hannah Missry needed nine points entering the New Year's Day matinee at Rhode Island to reach the career milestone and, fittingly, knocked down her first three triples in the first quarter to become the 19th Ram to ever reach the mark. The Manasquan, N.J. native accomplished the feat in her 110th appearance (105th start). Since, the senior guard has moved past Carol Elser '85, Stacey Paukovitz '93, and former teammate Erin Rooney '14 and now stands 16th all-time with 1,091 career points.
 
Fordham Seniors On the Accelerated Track
Featured in a Sunday edition of the New York Times in early January, Ram seniors Danielle Burns, Hannah Missry, and Danielle Padovano's story of being the only three seniors in any program in the country to graduate in three years and currently enrolled in a  masters program as seniors, was told. Interestingly, all three are also earning the same degree -- Media Management.
 
Conference-Only
Fordham is 9-4 in conference play and tied for fourth. The Rams matched the program's best-ever start to league play, in any league, with six straight wins before dropping four consecutive contests, and have now strung together three straight, all at home. Fordham is outscoring opponents 60.3 to 54.3 (+6.0). G'mrice Davis leads the way with 16.0 points and 12.5 rebounds per game and has a double-double in all but two games - against Duquesne where she missed it by one point (9 pts, 10 reb) and at St. Bonaventure where she finished with just seven rebounds. The junior is also converting her attempts at a 53.1% clip. Danielle Burns is next with 9.5 points per game and a team-leading 31 assists, five ahead of Asnate Fomina, who has 26 despite averaging just 13.3 minutes off the bench. Hannah Missry has hit 40.5% of her A-10 three-point attempts (30-of-74) and averages 8.7 points per game, while Kate Kreslina has converted on 40.0% of her long-range attempts. During the four-game losing streak, the Rams struggled from the field, shooting 34.6% overall (74-of-214) and just 23.9% from deep (17-of-71). Fordham struggled to create, with just 9.5 assists compared to 15.5 turnovers per game but improved on that with 13 and 12, respectively, against the Bonnies. Fordham's non-Davis starters were a combined 29-of-113 (25.7%) during the slide.
 
G'mrice is Rolling
The Philly native is absolutely rolling over her past 16 games, scoring in double figures in every contest and missing out on a double-double just twice. Since a season-low four points against St. John's at home, the junior has been averaging 16.8 points and 13.1 rebounds per contest on 52.1% shooting to go with 10 blocks and 16 steals across a team-high 33.5 minutes. During the stretch, Davis collected two A-10 Player of the Week honors.
 
The Bronx is Our House
The Rams are 14-3 this season in the Bronx, as opposed to a 3-5 record on the road and 1-1 at neutral sites. They are also 6-1 at home during conference play. Fordham began this season with six straight home victories and had won three straight before the three-point loss to VCU two weeks ago.
 
Iron Women
Danielle Burns and Hannah Missry have been two of the most durable players in program history and are near the top of the all-time games played and appearances lists. Burns has never missed a contest in her four years in the Bronx and made her 124th career appearance against the Minutewomen on Saturday. She had made 70 overall starts, including 47 straight, before coming off the bench the past two games. The Gainesville, Va. native is the fifth Ram to ever make 120 appearances and is currently fifth all-time in games played. Hannah Missry is a four-year starter who has made 116 career starts in 121 appearances. She is the sixth Ram to ever make 120 appearances. Missry is second all-time in career starts behind former teammate Samantha Clark '16, who made 126 starts. The duo are four and six appearances, respectively, from passing both Anne Gregory '80 and former teammate Abigail Corning '14 for third all-time.
 
Defense, Defense, Defense
Saint Joseph's ended the ultimate Stephanie Gaitley-inspired program streak of 38 straight wins, dating back to the end of the 2012-13 season, in which Fordham held opponents under 50 points. The Hawks defeated the Rams, 47-44, at Hagan Arena in mid-January. Coincidentally, the last time before that in which Fordham lost in such a way was also to Saint Joseph's, in the 2013 A-10 Championship game at the Barclays Center, 47-46. The Rams began a new streak last Saturday by defeating St. Bonaventure, 57-45, and have made it three straight by holding the Hawks to 39 points and UMass to 43. This season, Fordham is 10-1 in such contests, including five in conference play, plus holding Duquesne to 51 points on December 1. Overall, under Gaitley, the Rams are 49-5 in such wins.
 
Defense Part Deux
Through 27 games this season, Fordham's defense has limited opposing scoring to just 55.7 points per contest, ranking 18th in the country. Part of that is due to the Rams' stingy perimeter D that has held opponents to just 27.2% (91-for-334) shooting from beyond the arc, currently situated at 19th nationally. The Rams had been 12th in the country two weeks ago before VCU (4-of-8) and Saint Louis (10-of-20) each hit 50% of their attempts, but Fordham has held its last four opponents to just 9-of-43 shooting from deep (20.9%).
 
Three and D
Fordham is 65th in the country in three-point attempts (527) and 58th in makes (176), improvements made with a season-best 16-of-30 performance against UMass on Saturday, while playing terrific defense along the perimeter that has led to teams shooting just 27.2% from deep (19th in the nation).
 
A-10 Ranks
The Rams are back atop the league in scoring defense (55.7 pts/game), free throw percentage (75.3%), three-point defense (27.2%), and rebounding defense, holding opponents to just 33.5 boards per game. Fordham is also fourth in scoring margin (+4.0), field goal percentage (39.8%), assist/turnover ratio (0.9), three-pointers per game (6.5), and three-point shooting (33.4%). On the individual level, G'mrice Davis' 12.5 rebounds per game leads the league as does her 9.9 defensive boards. Davis' 50.6% percentage from the field ranks fourth. Hannah Missry's 2.1 triples per contest ranks fourth-most in the conference and both Kate Kreslina's and Hannah Missry's recent hot shooting has them fifth and ninth with 37.5% and 35.4% shooting, respectively, from deep.
 
Davis Boarding with the Best
G'mrice Davis has been a force on the glass this season, putting up career numbers across the board that has her near the top of Division I's rebounding lists (as of 2/13/17): Davis' 338 rebounds, 9.9 defensive rebounds per game and 12.5 rebounding average are all second in the nation. Additionally, her 18 double-doubles rank second, as well. Davis has tallied 12 or more rebounds in 16 contests and has notched double-doubles in 14 of her last 16 contests. After grabbing just seven in Olean three weeks ago, Davis began a new streak with 22 points and 19 rebounds in her hometown against the Hawks.
 
It Takes Two to... Rebound at a Historic Rate
Anne Gregory ('80) is one of the NCAA's all-time best rebounders. She is the only Ram in school history to average 10 or more rebounds over a single season and she did it all four of her years in the Bronx. Her lowest total, 12.5, came in 1979-80 during her senior year and G'mrice Davis currently bests that by .1 through 27 games. She's at the very least on pace to become just the second Ram to ever grab double figure rebounds per contest over a season. Davis' 338 rebounds currently rank fifth-most in a single season and her 7.8 career average is fourth-highest in program history.
 
Actively One of the Best from Deep
Hannah Missry has amassed 295 three-pointers in her career in the Bronx and is sixth among active players in Division I for all-time downtown makes. Missry has recently passed Suntana Granderson (Xavier '04-'07), Lisa Cermignaro (George Washington '94-'97), Amy Waugh (Xavier '00-'03), Stefanie Collins (St. Bonaventure '02-'06), and now both Cathy Jones (George Washington '00-'04) and Suzie Dailer (St. Bonaventure '92-'95) for third-most all-time in A-10 history. She needs 10 more to pass Nicole Levandusky (Xavier '98-'01) for second.
 
Career-Highs for G'mrice
The junior forward is playing the most minutes of her career this season and is putting up terrific numbers. Davis has set three new career-highs in rebounds, first with 15 at #1 Notre Dame, then 17 against Texas Tech, including seven on the offensive glass, and finally 21 against Grambling State, one of the top single-game numbers in A-10 history. Following the win over Davidson, she has now set three new scoring career-highs, as well, first with 22 points against Boston College, 24 in the Battle of the Bronx, and now 27 against the Wildcats. At Iona, Davis played the entire 40 minutes for the first time in her career and matched that recently at Saint Joseph's and at home against VCU.
 
Missry For Three!
Hannah Missry tied and broke the all-time Fordham career three-point record last season against St. Bonaventure (2/24/16) with two timely second-half bombs, tying and moving past Heather Donlon (1989-93) on the all-time list. Missry finished her season with five more long-range efforts over the next three contests and began her senior campaign with 239. This year, the senior is shooting 56-of-158 from deep (35.4%) and has enjoyed some success in recent games, hitting between two and five triples in nine of the last 14 contests. Her 2.1 per-game average is fourth in the conference.
 
44 To Go
Missry is 44 three-pointers away from breaking Jessica Jenkins' all-time Atlantic 10 record of 338 threes set at St. Bonaventure from 2009-12. The Manasquan, N.J. native is on pace to finish just behind Jenkins in either second or third.
 
Kelly Provides Punch Off Bench
Freshman guard Anna Kelly started her Fordham career by scoring seven points in three of her first four games but spent the next 12 contests playing between two and 14 minutes, excluding one 19-minute cameo. Needing an injection of energy against Davidson at the beginning of January, Kelly flourished, tallying a career-high 18 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 shooting from the free throw line. Kelly also tallied two rebounds, two steals, and two assists, in 27 minutes. Over her next four games, she averaged just under four points per game but, at Saint Louis and George Washington, was been one of the lone bright spots over a tough period for the team, averaging 13.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, with two assists, and 8-of-15 shooting from the floor and 11-of-13 shooting from the line across 24.5 minutes. Kelly has cooled off a bit, though, in her last four contests, averaging just four points per game across 15.8 minutes per game.
 
Fordham's Charity
Fordham is 40th in the country thus far with a 75.3% clip from the free throw line. The Rams have spent a large portion of this season atop the A-10 leaderboards before some struggles from the line helped them slip to second. Before a season-high 23-of-29 performance from the stripe against Davidson (1/4), over the team's previous five games, the Rams were hitting just 64.7% (44-of-68) of their freebies, including a 16-for-25 mark at Rhode Island, the most attempts of the season but also the third-most makes. The 10-of-11 shooting from the line in Olean helped the Rams again reach the summit in the league. Fordham hit 11-of-16 at Saint Joseph's but rebounded with 12-of-14 against VCU. The Rams fell back down a spot after shooting 8-of-12 against St. Bonaventure but a 15-of-17 line against the Hawks brought them back up. The current 75.3% mark would be the third-best in program history.
 
Fomina Facilitating Off the Bench
Fomina leads the team with 57 dimes, despite averaging just 14.6 minutes off the bench. Her lone start came against Davidson, playing 22 minutes and assisting on five buckets. Fomina began the year with at least one assist in each of the first 10 games, including five at Iona, and enjoyed a solid stretch of between three and five dimes in six straight contests over a three-week span from mid-December to early-January.
 
Kiwis Enroll Early
Two of Fordham's Class of 2021 recruits have joined the team and have been declared eligible to practice and compete. However, the two Kiwis, Kendell Heremaia and Zara Jillings, will redshirt and sit out the remainder of this season. Natives of New Zealand, the duo's school year ended this winter and the pair enrolled early to get integrated into the program. Jillings and Heremaia have taken jersey numbers 15 and 30, respectively, for now.
 
Five Sign NLIs in 2016-17 Recruiting Class
Coach Gaitley announced this past week the additions of five student-athletes  to national letters of intent: Halei Gillis, Kendell Heremaia, Zara Jillings, Ralene Kwiatkowski, and Vilisi Tavui. Fordham's global reach under Coach Gaitley continues with two players from North Carolina, two from New Zealand, and one from Fiji. The three international players all have experience playing within their countries' junior ranks.
 
You can read all about the five additions here.
 
Fordham WBB Ticket Plans
Two women's ticket options are available:
Flex Plan: $35 for 15 tickets
Community Partner: $100 for 50 tickets
 
With the flex plan option, fans receive 15 ticket vouchers good for use at any Fordham women's basketball game, plus a special Fordham scarf. As a community partner, you also have the opportunity to provide 50 tickets to a group of your choice.

The Rams have four remaining home Atlantic 10 contests, including one nationally televised home game – the home season finale against Dayton on February 19.
 
You can purchase single game tickets for all home contests here.
 
Up Next
Fordham hosts league-leading Dayton on Sunday, February 19. The game will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network.