Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Fordham women's basketball team saw a nine-point third-quarter lead vanish at Pittsburgh on Wednesday night as the offense struggled to score over a 10-minute span, allowing the hosts to rally for a 65-62 victory. With the result, the Rams fall to 5-5 on the season, while the Panthers improve to 6-4.
"We played well for about 30 minutes but we need to play well for 40 to beat the good teams on the road," Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "Hopefully the strength of our schedule will help us learn from these situations and we can apply them towards our conference games."
Pittsburgh jumped out to a 12-5 lead five minutes into the opening frame by shooting 4-of-5 from the floor and hitting both of its free throws. The Rams regrouped with an 8-0 run and ultimately outscored the hosts, 14-2 the rest of the period. The bench came up big during the run, with
Megan Jonassen scoring a season-high seven points and
Alexa Giuliano draining a corner three to go with
Bre Cavanaugh's four points.
The Rams upped their efficiency in the second quarter, shooting 57.1% from the floor and 4-of-7 from downtown to keep up with Pittsburgh's offense, who made half of their 16 attempts in the frame. With the equal 20-20 score, the Rams took a five-point lead, 39-34, into halftime.
At the half, Fordham had pulled down more offensive boards than defensive (10 to 9) and recorded a 9/5 assist/turnover ratio, with five different players notching at least one dime. Among eight different scorers, three had seven points to lead the squad at the break: Cavanaugh, Jonassen, and
Kendell Heremaia.
Pittsburgh started off well, sinking two quick shots around a Fordham turnover, but the Rams answered with an 8-0 run on 3-of-3 shooting – a Cavanaugh three in response, a Jonassen jumper, and a
Mary Goulding triple to lead by nine, 47-38, the team's largest of the night with 7:27 to play in the period. However, the Rams went cold from that point on and did not score on 13 attempts the rest of the frame as the Panthers rallied to tie things up and go ahead, 49-47, heading into the final quarter.
Cavanaugh stopped the skid with a layup on the first possession of the fourth to tie the game back up and two minutes later
Lauren Holden drained a three-pointer to retake the lead, 52-51. Pittsburgh scored six unanswered to lead, 57-52, with 4:25 to play but again the Rams rallied. Cavanaugh drilled another three and Jonassen converted a nice pass by Goulding for a layup, tying the game up at 57-57. Danielle Garven hit a jumper to put the hosts up briefly but Cavanaugh hit yet another clutch three to retake the lead, 60-59, with 2:37 to go. Neither team could score until Pittsburgh's Cara Judkins scored the game winner on a layup with 90 seconds to play.
The Rams were outshot, 48.1% to 41.0%, including from deep, 41.7% to 35.5%, and went to the line just once (1-of-2) compared to the Panthers' 10-of-12 makes from the stripe. Fordham did win the battle of the boards, 32-31, including a margin of 14-9 on the offensive glass, the team's fifth game with at least 14 offensive rebounds. Entering the game as the nation's leader in limiting turnovers (10.6), Fordham committed just 11 on the night.
Cavanaugh shared the game-high with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting, 4-of-8 from deep, with four rebounds and a block across 36 minutes. Jonassen finished with a season-high 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with five rebounds and three blocks in 28 minutes off the bench. Goulding posted a solid all-around line of eight points, nine rebounds (four offensive), five assists, two steals, and a block over 37 minutes, but also led the team with four turnovers. Holden and Heremaia each chipped in nine points and combined for seven assists.
The Rams return to the Bronx to host local rival Columbia next Tuesday night at 6 p.m., the first of a doubleheader with the men's team, who will play NJIT right after.
