Women's Basketball Picks Up 20th Win, 66-45, over La Salle on Play4Kay Night

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team reached 20 wins for the season with its third straight victory to begin the month of February, 66-45, over La Salle on Tuesday during the team's Play4Kay night. With the win, the Rams improve to 20-6 overall and 11-2 in Atlantic 10 action, while the Explorers fall to 8-18 and 3-10, respectively. For one night, at least, Fordham has sole possession of second place in the league standings.
 
"Great job by our kids tonight protecting our home court," Head coach Stephanie Gaitley said, "Tonight was a great defensive and team effort."
 
The Rams defense was again at the fore for their 20^th victory of the season, the ninth when holding an opponent under 50 points and second straight. Fordham kept La Salle to 21 points at the half and just eight in the third quarter, including an eight-minute span without a point for the visitors, to pull away and secure the win.
 
La Salle's leading scorer and All-Conference guard Amy Griffin knocked down her first jumper of the evening on the game's first possession to give La Salle a brief lead, its only one of the night. The two teams traded baskets for a couple of minutes until Bre Cavanaugh's free throw at the 7:12 mark gave Fordham the go-ahead point. That make set up a 7-0 run split between her and G'mrice Davis to take a seven-point lead. The Explorers answered with a 6-2 run to get within three but just one more basket came over the remaining 2:22 of the first quarter, a Lauren Holden three-pointer.
 
Holden started the second frame off with a layup and both she and Johanna Klug would hit both of their free throws in those opening two minutes to keep the margin at eight. Shalina Miller's layup a minute later got within six, the closest La Salle would get the rest of the way. Fordham finished out the first half on a 12-5 run.
 
Like Griffin started the first half with a bucket, Adreana Miller started the second half off with a make, this one from downtown, to cut the deficit to 10. That would be the final point for the Explorers, however, for exactly eight minutes of action until Shalina Miller sank both of her free throws with 1:32 to play in the period. During that interval, Fordham struggled with its shot, hitting just 3-of-9 for 10 points, but forced La Salle into six misses and five turnovers. The run put the Rams up 20, 49-29, heading into the final 10 minutes.
 
 Holden sank another three on the team's first offensive possession of the fourth, part of an eventual 12-0 run that went back to a Cavanaugh free throw with under a minute to play in the third quarter to put the hosts up 29, until Rayshel Brown converted an and-one with 5:12 left in regulation. The Explorers scored 16 points in the fourth but the Rams kept pace with their opponents, scoring 17 to see out the win.
 
Davis led the way with 18 points, nine rebounds, and three steals, missing out on a 14^th straight double-double by one board, which would have been tied for 10^th-longest in NCAA history. The senior's four free throws did vault her up three spots to fourth all-time, though, with 286 career makes from the stripe. Cavanaugh and Holden each shot 5-of-11 from the field, the former hitting two triples compared to the latter's one, to score 16 and 15, respectively. Cavanaugh led the way with a team-high four assists and matched her season-high with eight rebounds. Mary Goulding chipped in eight points, six rebounds (four offensive), two assists, and two steals across 29 minutes.
 
Fordham shot 46.9% from the floor and 44.4% from behind the arc (4-of-9),while rebounding from recent dips in free-throw shooting to hit 16-of-18 on the night (88.9%), the team's fourth-most makes on the year. The Rams held La Salle to just 32.7% shooting on the night and 25.0% from downtown, while also winning the battle of the boards, 40-25. La Salle enjoyed 18 points off 14 Fordham turnovers but the Rams totaled 17 second-chance points compared to the visitors' five.

The 2017-18 season is now the 10th all-time 20-win season in program history; Stephanie Gaitley has coached five of those seasons. Tonight was also her 140th at the helm of the Rams.
 
Fordham now embarks on a tough three-game stretch to finish up the regular season, two straight on the road and then the regular season finale at home. First up is Dayton on Sunday at 2 p.m.