Philadelphia, Pa. - Like Friday night against Harvard, the Fordham women's basketball team found itself down at halftime but rallied in the second half to advance in the WNIT, this time to the Sweet Sixteen for a second time in program history. Led by redshirt freshman
Bre Cavanaugh's 32 points and an all-around solid defensive stand in the second half, the Rams' season continues this Thursday night at Virginia Tech. With Sunday evening's win, Fordham improves to 24-9 on the season.
"This was an incredible road win over a really good Drexel team," Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "Bre had a terrific offensive game and our defense carried us down the stretch. Going to the Sweet Sixteen is super special and we're ready for more!"
It took some time for both teams to find their footing in the game, as the first quarter was sloppy offensively and tough defensively. Drexel held an 8-6 lead at the end of the opening 10 minutes and neither team was shooting above 25% from the floor. It took nearly five minutes into the game until a Cavanaugh three-pointer got Fordham on the board. Two minutes into the second quarter, after the Rams had knotted the game up at 10-all, the Dragons hit a three, stole the inbounds pass, and scored for a quick 5-0 run that prompted a Gaitley timeout. Over the next four minutes of action, Drexel built a nine-point advantage, what would be its largest of the contest, heading to the final media timeout of the half. Out of the break, the visitors rallied to finish the first half on a 10-5 run capped by a Cavanaugh corner three with two seconds to go. Drexel brought a 26-22 lead into the break.
Whenever Fordham would make a charge to tie the game or get close, the Dragons would pull ahead slightly with a small run. After tying the game at 30-30, the Dragons went on a 6-2 run into the period's media timout, leading, 36-32. However, the game changed completely coming out of that break as Cavanaugh and
Mary Goulding combined for an 11-2 run to close out the period and take the lead, 43-38, heading into the final 10 minutes. Cavanugh drove coast-to-coast to the left side of the basket to lay it in to push the margin to five at the buzzer. The Dragons clawed their way back to tie the game up, 47-47, with a three-pointer by Bailey Greenberg but
Lauren Holden drained one in response on the other side at the final media timeout.
The two schools traded baskets over the next two minutes and Coach Gaitley called for a timeout with 2:32 to go and the action deadlocked at 53-53. The Dragons took the lead on a three-pointer, 56-55, with less than two minutes to go but Cavanaugh pulled Fordham back on top with a big three from the top of the key, her season-high sixth of the game, with 1:11 left to play. Drexel missed a chance on the other end and Cavanaugh hit a long two just moments later to make it a four-point lead, 60-56. The Dragons made a layup and Goulding went 1-for-2 at the line to make it 61-58. A scuffle with 19.7 seconds to go after a Drexel foul led to technicals for both
G'mrice Davis and Hannah Nihill. With the Rams in the bonus, Cavanaugh drained her two free throws to make it 63-60 and Drexel's final shot didn't fall, giving the Rams the win.
Cavanaugh finished the game with 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting, 6-of-12 from behind the arc, and 4-of-4 from the line, while matching a season-high with eight rebounds. She added an assist and two steals across all 40 minutes. The redshirt freshman is up to 58 points, an average of 29.5 points, over the first two rounds of the WNIT. Goulding followed with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and Davis chipped in 11 points and eight boards. Holden added five points and a team-high four dimes over her 40 minutes, as well.
The two schools, evenly matched up on paper entering the day, put up similar numbers. Fordham slightly outshot the Dragons, 48.9% to 46.2%, while both teams converting 33.3% of their three-point attempts. Fordham went 7-of-21 from downtown and the Dragons went 6-of-18. However, the hosts shot 6-of-8 from the line, while the visitors hit 10-of-15. Fordham also won the battle of the boards, 31-24, including 11 offensive rebounds.
During the game, Davis moved up to fourth all-time, with 1,485 points, past Suzanne Maguire ('97) on the school's all-time scoring list, and increased her career rebounding tally to 1,190. Davis also finished the game at 203 career field goals, besting her total from a year ago (200) to move into the single-season top-10, and passing Terri Vaccarino's 202 in 1982-83 into a tie with Jeanine Radice (1985-86) for eighth-most all-time.
Cavanaugh, meanwhile, upped her season total to 567 points, passing Sharon Nast (85-86) for ninth-most in a single campaign all-time, while also jumping up to sixth with 143 made free throws on the year. The redshirt freshman also moved into the top-10 for made threes in a season, at 10 with 64, while Holden moved into a three-way tie with
Hannah Missry (2016-17) and Suzanne Maguire (1996-97) for sixth, with 71. The junior guard's lone make from behind the arc also moved her into a tie with Becky Peters ('12) for the seventh-most career triples, with 155.
Fordham's season continues into the WNIT Sweet Sixteen this Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Virginia Tech.
