Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Fordham women's basketball team survived a defensive slugfest at Duquesne on Wednesday night in its final road contest of the regular season, 51-43, to push past the Dukes and into second place in the Atlantic 10 and one step closer to a first-round bye at the A-10 Championship. With the win, the Rams improve to 21-7 overall and 12-3 in league action, while Duquesne falls to 22-6 and 12-3, respectively.
"I'm super proud of the effort tonight, this was one of our best defensive games of the year," Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "It was great that we've learned from our tough losses. G and Mary showed a lot of toughness getting back on the court after going down earlier. Great team win!"
The Fordham defense came to play in the battle for second place, limiting the Dukes to a high of 13 for any one quarter and a total of seven points – on two baskets – over the final 10 minutes as the Rams hit their free throws late and held on for the win. Despite the low scoring for the Dukes, the Rams had offensive struggles of their own and were outscored in both the second and third quarters, albeit by a total of three points.
G'mrice Davis tallied a game-high 20 points to go with 19 rebounds to lead the Rams. Davis scored Fordham's first 10 points on the night, including a pair of and-ones. The senior forward twisted her ankle three minutes into the second quarter and missed several minutes of action, returning towards the end of the first half. Davis shot just 4-of-11 after the injury but was a menace on the glass, hauling in 17 more rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive glass. Duquesne's last lead came when a three-pointer by Kadri-Ann Lass made it 12-11 with 3:30 to play in the first quarter. Fordham finished the period out on a 5-0 run.
Lass started the second quarter with a jumper but
Lauren Holden answered on the other end with a three, which was followed by a Davis layup. With Davis off the floor, Duquesne outscored the Rams, 7-3, to get within three, 24-21. A series of misses from both teams followed and Davis re-entered the game, stopping the scoreless stretch with a layup. The Dukes got within two via a Julijana Vojinovic trey with just over a minute to go in the half but it was
Zara Jillings with her lone basket of the evening who stepped up with the final bucket of the half, driving the lane and finishing to give Fordham a 28-24 lead at the break.
The two teams traded baskets in the third quarter for more than half of the third period, alternating between a two and four-point margin, until
Kendell Heremaia drained a clutch three after Holden had grabbed her own rebound after a layup attempt to keep possession. The Rams had one fewer rebound in the third than the Dukes but hauled in five offensive boards which led to five points. Fordham's seven-point lead after the Heremaia triple was short-lived and Duquesne was back within two, 38-36, heading into the final frame.
A mixture of stellar Fordham defense, poor Duquesne shooting, and solid free-throwing shooting down the stretch led to the Rams running away with the road win. Duquesne hit just 2-of-16 shots over the final 10 minutes, the only two baskets coming on three-pointers by Chassidy Omogrosso nearly seven minutes apart, plus one free throw by Paige Cannon. Omogrosso's first put the hosts within one at the 7:34 mark, 40-39, but the team fell into a shooting slump thereafter. The Rams hit 7-of-12 free throws in the period and Davis hauled in 12 rebounds to keep Duquesne at bay.
Joining Davis in double figures was Holden, who tallied 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting, 2-of-5 from deep, and 5-of-6 from the line.
Bre Cavanaugh was held to single digits for just the fourth time all season, tallying six points on 3-of-15 shooting and failing to make a three-point attempt for the second game in a row after having only done that once all season prior.
Fordham outrebounded the Dukes, 40-34, including a 13-4 margin on the offensive glass. Both teams shot 33.3% from the field, although the Rams had nine more attempts. The Rams struggled with the deep ball on the night, hitting just 3-of-14, while the Dukes converts 31.6%. The Rams, a top-20 team in the country in free-throw percentage entering the game, hit just 10-of-17 from the line (58.8%), their joint-fourth-worst mark of the campaign.
With the head-to-head tiebreaker in the Atlantic 10, the Rams leapfrog Duquesne into second place in the standings despite equal 12-3 records. The Rams can earn a first round bye on Saturday against Saint Joseph's or with a Duquesne loss.
The Rams and Hawks tip off at the Rose Hill Gym at 2 p.m. Several senior students, plus senior forward
G'mrice Davis, will be honored during a Senior Day ceremony prior to tip.
