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Bronx, N.Y. – Despite leading by six at the half, the Fordham women's basketball team fell, 72-55, to Penn State on Wednesday night inside the Rose Hill Gym. With the loss, the Rams fall to 1-2 on the season, while the Lady Lions improve to 2-1.
"Tonight was a game of two halves," Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "We were up against Northeastern and again tonight but we didn't finish. We need to continue to work on putting a 40-minute game."
Much like the season opener last Friday night against Wagner, Fordham started off hot, hitting half of their 20 attempts from the floor in the opening 10 minutes and outscoring Penn State, 23-17. It wasn't just one or two players, either, as all seven players who stepped onto the court for the Rams made at least one basket.
Kendell Heremaia erased two early Lady Lions leads with a three-pointer and a driving layup and the hosts would maintain their lead deep into the half until Penn State's All-Conference guard Teniya Page started to heat up. Page scored nine points in the second period to push Penn State back on top in the waning moments of the first half but Fordham finished with a flurry, scoring five unanswered points to lead at the half, 44-38.
Bre Cavanaugh hit a three with just under two minutes to play to retake the lead, 39-38, and
Zara Jillings' layup on a nice feed from freshman
Kaitlyn Downey made it three with just under a minute to go. Page drove to the basket in the final seconds but Cavanaugh took the charge, regained possession for the Rams, and the redshirt sophomore drained a buzzer-beating trey to send the home crowd into a frenzy.
After shooting 37.5% from the floor in the first quarter, the Lady Lions awoke to shoot 55.6% in the second period. Fordham shot 38.9% after making their final three attempts of the half. The Rams had seven triples compared to Penn State's two and were outrebounding the visitors, 18-16, and winning the turnover battle, 8-6. Fordham also had 14 second-chance points to Penn State's four.
Like the Northeastern game on Sunday, however, the Rams struggled to put the ball in the net in the second half, totaling just 11 points on 15.6% (5-of-32) shooting from the field, including 0-for-8 from behind the arc. Meanwhile, the Lady Lions shot 44.8% overall and hit 3-of-6 from deep, with 5-of-5 makes from the free-throw line to win the second half, 34-11.
The Rams had a lot of second-chance opportunities in the second half, hauling in nine offensive rebounds out of 23. Penn State retook the lead early in the third quarter and never looked back.
Cavanaugh led the way for the Rams with 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals over all 40 minutes. Downey and
Mary Goulding each finished with 11 points, the former notching her first career double-double with 11 rebounds, also adding two assists, and a steal over 35 minutes. Goulding chipped in nine boards and once again had more on the offensive glass, five, than defensive.
The Rams won the battle on the glass, 41-32, especially on the offensive end, 14-5, but committed more turnovers, 15, than assists, 11, for the first time this year. That ratio in the second half was nine to two, respectively.
Page tallied a game-high 25 points for Penn State, while Alisia Smith and Siyeh Frazier combined for 31.
The Rams remain at home for a Sunday afternoon match-up with Charlotte. Tip-off is set for 2:30 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
