Women's Basketball Knocks off Saint Joseph's

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team picked up its second victory in a row, outlasting Saint Joseph's, 44-39, to split the season series, and jumped up into a tie for fourth place in the Atlantic 10 alongside the Hawks and La Salle. The Rams improved to 17-9 overall and 8-4 in league play with the result, while Saint Joseph's fell to 11-13 and 8-4 on the year.
 
The win was head coach Stephanie Gaitley's 115th with Fordham, tying her with Kathy Mosolino for most in program history.
 
"This was an outstanding defensive effort and a great team win," Gaitley said, "We are going to be a very dangerous team once we are able to put our offense together with our defense."
 
The Hawks entered this contest as one of the hottest teams in the league, having won eight of their previous nine games, including a 47-44 win over the Rams at Hagan Arena three weeks ago, but could only muster a season-low 39 points against Fordham's Gaitley-driven defensive plan. The Hawks had snapped the program's 38-game winning streak when holding opponents below 50 points several weeks ago but, after dropping four straight games, the Rams have bounced back by finding their defensive form, holding St. Bonaventure to 45 points last Saturday and the Hawks to 39 tonight.
 
Gaitley opted for one change to her starting lineup tonight, sitting Danielle Burns and giving sophomore Mary Goulding her first career start. The first quarter was nearly a carbon copy of the January 18 match-up in Philadelphia that saw a 4-3 first quarter line with just one field goal for each team; tonight the two teams combined to shoot 2-of-25 from the floor in the opening 10 minutes and were knotted up at four apiece. The Rams found their legs in the second quarter, though, outscoring the visitors, 13-8, before Lauren Holden sank a buzzer-beating heave from about 27 feet out on the right wing. Fordham took the lead for good through Anna Kelly's free throws, 13-12, late in the period, which sparked a 9-0 run over the final two-plus minutes.
 
Fordham was again suffocating on defense in the third quarter, holding Saint Joseph's to just 25% shooting (3-of-12) in the frame, but could only muster 13 points of their own to the Hawks' 10. Two more Kelly free throws with 11 seconds left pushed the lead to 11, 33-22, heading into the final period, but things got interesting late as Saint Joseph's rallied.
 
The Hawks opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run behind Sarah Veilleux and Adaisha Franklyn to cut the deficit to four, 33-29, holding the Rams without a point for the first four and a half minutes. However, Burns got her first points of the game with a jumper in the paint and G'mrice Davis fought through a foul for a timely and-one to maintain the Rams lead. Fordham, the second-best free throw shooting team in the A-10 and a top-50 shooting team in the country, hit all seven of its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.
 
Fordham held Saint Joseph's to just 31.5% shooting from the field and an 1-of-8 mark from downtown, but struggled worse than the Hawks shooting-wise, connecting on just 26.5% of its shots, the third-worst mark of the season. The Rams committed just nine turnovers, the sixth time this year they've had nine or less, but also tallied just four assists, a season-low.
 
G'mrice Davis led the way with a game-high 15 points and 16 rebounds, her 17th double-double of the season and 13th in her last 15 contests, across 38 minutes, while Kate Kreslina chipped in nine points and Kelly added six off the bench. Burns was held to just two points and five rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench, snapping a streak of 47 straight starts, and Hannah Missry was held without a field goal for the fourth time this year and third time in her last four games.
 
The Rams have a quick turnaround, hosting Massachusetts in less than two days, this Saturday at 2 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear pink to the game for the team's annual Play4Kay event!