Women's Basketball Travels to Rhode Island Thursday

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team (12-7, 3-2 A-10) is looking to get back in the win column after seeing a seven-game winning streak snapped last week as it heads to Rhode Island (7-10, 2-3 A-10) for a Thursday night tilt. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams suffered their second straight loss on Sunday afternoon, falling to Dayton, 72-50. Though Fordham trailed by just two, 16-14, after the opening period, which included senior Lauren Holden's 1,000th career point, the Flyers never trailed in the contest, although the game was briefly tied, 14-14, late in the first period after a Holden floater and again, 20-20, early in the second on a Bre Cavanaugh jumper. However, following that latter basket, the Flyers finished the first half on a 16-7 run to lead by nine at the break, 36-27. Dayton shot 58.6% overall from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, including a 15-of-22 clip inside the perimeter, and continued to score efficiently the rest of the way.
 
Cavanaugh led the way for the Rams with 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting, four rebounds, and two assists. Kendell Heremaia posted nine points and four boards, while the other three starters (Holden, Mary Goulding, and Kaitlyn Downey) each tallied seven points. Goulding chipped in a team-high six rebounds and two steals, while Downey matched her season-high of two blocks. Off the bench, Megan Jonassen notched four points and four rebounds, plus a block, with Katie McLoughlin (three points) and Zara Jillings (two points) getting on the scoresheet, as well. The Rams finished the contest shooting 34.5% overall and 23.5% from deep but committed just 11 turnovers.
 
Series History vs. Rhode Island
Rhody holds a slim 19-18 all-time advantage since 1981, when they won the first meeting, 72-39, in the Bronx. Fordham has won the last four contests in the series and eight of the last nine, including last year's two February victories in the Bronx, the latter coming in the opening road of last year's A-10 Championship, 75-53, under the new league format of higher seeds hosting first round games.
 
Bre Cavanaugh enjoyed a monster game in the second-to-last meeting between the two schools, posting 20 points, five rebounds, four assists, and a career-high seven steals, one shy of the program record. Lauren Holden has scored in double figures in all four career games against Rhody, including a pair of 16-point games last year with a combined eight three-pointers and nine assists.
 
Swiper No Swiping
Fordham is once again tops in the country in limiting turnovers, with just 10.7 per game, the only school to average fewer than 11. Fordham has committed between five and 15 turnovers thus far this season, with five single-digit turnover performances and nine games with 10 or less. Last Sunday's five turnovers at Saint Louis were the fewest since the 2012-13 squad committed just four against Holy Cross on January 6 of that year.
 
The Rams have six of the top 30 in assist/turnover ratio in the Atlantic 10. Zara Jillings is tied for fifth (1.8), Mary Goulding and Bre Cavanaugh are tied for 10th (1.5), Kaitlyn Downey is tied for 14th (1.4), and Lauren Holden and Kendell Heremaia are tied for 25th (1.2). All six Rams who are averaging 20 or more minutes have a positive assist/turnover ratio and the team as a whole has a 243-202 ratio.
 
Cavanaugh Named NCAA Player of the Week
The redshirt sophomore picked up her third A-10 Player of the Week award last week after averaging 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.0 steals across 38.5 minutes of two wins last week, against Richmond and at Saint Louis. She was also named the NCAA Player of the Week and the National Jesuit Women's Player of the Week for the first time, as well. She was a four-time Rookie of the Week winner last year. Read more by clicking here.
 
Seven-Game Winning Streak
Prior to last Wednesday's loss, the Rams had rattled off seven straight wins since opening nonconference action with a 5-5 record. During the run, Fordham had wins at Iona, over Maine and Middle Tennessee State at the 12th Annual Holiday Classic, at George Washington, Richmond at home, and at Saint Louis to begin conference play. Here were some key stats from the team's winning streak:
                - Average margin of victory: 60.6 to 4870 (+11.9)
                - Outshot opponents 40.9% to 38.9% overall and 33.3% to 22.3% from behind the arc
                - Outrebounded opponents 36.3 to 28.0 (+8.3), including 90-49 on the offensive glass
                - Bre Cavanaugh averaged 16.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals over 39.4 minutes
                - Mary Goulding averaged 11.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game
                - Lauren Holden averaged 10.9 points on 46.7% overall shooting and 44.1% from deep
                - Jonassen (54.5%), Goulding (50.7%), Jillings (47.6%), and Holden (46.7%), shot well
 
Coach Gaitley Reaches 150 Fordham Victories
The 68-49 win over Columbia was head coach Stephanie Gaitley's 150th in charge of the Fordham women's basketball program. She became the program's all-time winningest coach in 2016 and picked up career victory number 600 last year.
 
Other milestone Fordham victories for Coach Gaitley include:
                - First win: at home against Cleveland State, 52-43, on 11/16/11
                - 50th win: at home against Saint Louis, 74-52, on 1/2/14
                - 63rd win: in the A-10 Championship game against Dayton, 63-51, on 3/9/14, in Richmond, Va.
                - 100th win: against Little Rock, 65-43, at home in the opening round of the preseason WNIT on 11/19/16
                - 116th win (to become program's leader in wins): vs. Massachusetts, 74-43, on 2/11/17
 
#ShareTheRock
The Rams have a 243/202 assist/turnover ratio through 19 games thus far this season and no one player stands above the rest in terms of spreading the wealth on offense. Four different players have between 43 and 50 dimes on the year: Kendell Heremaia leads the squad with 50, followed closely by Mary Goulding (48), Lauren Holden (46), and Bre Cavanaugh (43).
 
Kiwis Coming Through
Fordham's New Zealand contingent of Mary Goulding, Kendell Heremaia, and Zara Jillings combined for 37 points against Charlotte, including 22 in the fourth quarter alone out of the team's 29 points. Jillings hit a three-pointer in the corner then fed Heremaia for a layup to retake the lead for good and Goulding scored 12 points the rest of the way, all from the field, to secure the victory. Against Ball State, with Goulding struggling with her shot (despite tallying seven boards and a game-high six dimes), Heremaia and Jillings each set new career-highs in scoring, with 15 and 12 points, respectively, with the former matching her career-high six field goals and three triples, the latter notching a personal-best two steals to go with eight rebounds and five assists. The trio combined for 27 points and 16 rebounds against Washington and Heremaia netted a new career-best 17 points against #10/9 Texas in the Gulf Coast Showcase final. Heremaia set a new career-high with 16 rebounds agaisnt Saint Louis, the most since G'mrice Davis hauled in 18 against Saint Joseph's last March 2nd.
 
Goulding and Heremaia are second and fourth on the team in scoring, respectively, with 10.6 and 8.1 points per game, second and first in assists, with 50 and 48, respectively, and  first and third in rebounding, with 7.3 and 5.3, respectively, while Jillings chips in 4.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 28 assists off the bench. The Kiwis have combined to average 22.7 points per game, or 37.5% of the team's scoring, 15.5 rebounds (44.2% of the team's rebounding), and 126 assists, or 51.9% of the team's total of 243. Against Manhattan on December 1st was the first of two times all three have started together. 
 
Crashing the Offensive Glass
Last year, nearly one-third of the Rams' 1,268 total rebounds came on the offensive glass (408 - 32.1%). Fordham lost leading rebounder G'mrice Davis in the offseason but the Rams haven't missed a beat thus far in 2018-19, hauling in just over that mark (234-of-666 – 35.1%). Six different Rams already have at least 24 offensive boards. Mary Goulding leads the way with 54-of-132 offensive boards, Bre Cavanaugh has 33, Megan Jonassen has 32, Kaitlyn Downey has 29, Kendell Heremaia has 26, and Zara Jillings has 24. Fordham has had between 13 and 19 offensive rebounds in 11 contests this year, including the first six of the year. The Rams matched their season-high with 19 against Maine.
 
Wubba Lubba Dub-Dub
Through 19 games to open the 2018-19 season, the Rams have had 10 double-doubles by four different players. Redshirt sophomore Bre Cavanaugh, who had zero entering this season, leads the way with five and senior Mary Goulding has three near-identical ones - grabbing 12 rebounds each time. Kaitlyn Downey posted 11 points and 11 rebounds against Penn State for her first career double-double and Kendell Heremaia did the same with 13 points and 10 rebounds against Washington. G'mrice Davis graduated in May tied for a NCAA-wide lead with 57 career double-doubles and had 27 last year alone.
 
Holden Ascending the All-Time Ranks
Having played the third-most minutes in Fordham history, it's no surprise to see Lauren Holden's name high up in the record book. The Cape May, N.J. native's recent hot shooting from deep has pushed her into the all-time top-five for three-pointers made, past Maureen Garvey ('01) and current Director of Ops Abigail Corning ('14), with 187 career long-range makes. Next is Suzanne Maguire, who has 200. Her 84.7% career rate from the free-throw line sits fifth all-time, as well. She became the 21st member of the program's 1,000-point club, currently at 1,005, at Dayton on Sunday and is on pace to break the record for career minutes played and enter the top-five for games played and stated, currently at 117 and 102, respectively. She is currently at 3,910 minutes played, 244 and 246 behind Corning and Samantha Clark.
 
G'mrice Thriving in Greece
Former Fordham standout forward G'mrice Davis, the program's second All-American honorable mention, signed her first professional contract with GAS Kalyvion in the Greek A1 league over the summer and, through her team's first 10 contests, is leading the league in rebounding (15.8 per game), is second in scoring (19.5), and is chipping in 1.8 steals, as well, helping Kalyvion to a 6-4 record and fourth-place spot in the league table. The top four teams in the league advance to the playoffs. Eurobasket.com has already named G'mrice the league's Player of the Week four times, all coming in the last five weeks. This past weekend, Davis had a monster game of 27 points, 24 rebounds, five assists, and five steals against Esperides. Read an interview with G'mrice about her time abroad HERE.
 
Quite the Start
Bre Cavanaugh has started all 53 contests in her Fordham career and has been nothing short of spectacular for the Rams during her time in maroon and white. The redshirt sophomore finished her freshman season with the second-most minutes ever played in a single campaign, with 1,306, and is averaging 38.4 minutes per game so far in her career. She is averaging 17.2 points per game with 300 field goals, 104 three-pointers, and 206 free throws, with an average of 5.6 rebounds per game, a 103-82 assist-to-turnover ratio, and 62 steals. She is on pace to join the 1,000-point club next month, currently at 910 career points. Cavanaugh has only been held to single-digit scoring five times in her career and has 20 games of 20 or more points. She became the fourth Fordham rookie last year to record multiple 30-point games and just the sixth player, in any class, to accomplish the feat, as well, with her 37-point game at Saint Louis (1/31/18) serving as the fourth-most by a Fordham player ever and the Atlantic 10's season-high all of last year.
 
Heremaia Raising the Bar
Sophomore Kendell Heremaia has been terrific for the Rams this year, starting all 19 contests, after making seven starts in 33 appearances last year, leading the team with 50 assists, and averaging 8.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. The Whangarei, New Zealand native has set four new highs in scoring, starting with 13 in the season opener against Wagner and culiminating in 17 against #10 Texas, and set a new career-high with 16 rebounds at Saint Louis. Heremaia has hit at least one three-pointer in all but three games and has shot 50% or better in six contests. Prior to a recent cold-shooting stretch, the sophomore was shooting 47.7% from the field and 43.2% from behind the arc to start the year. She has played 25 or more minutes in 15 contests this year.
 
Got a Minute?
Senior co-captain Lauren Holden set a new Fordham record with 1,333 minutes played last year, which ranked fourth in the country and second on a per-game basis (39.2), and is on pace to break the all-time school record, currently held by current Director of Player Development Samantha Clark, who played 4,156 minutes in her career (current Director of Ops Abigail Corning in next with 4,154). A starter midway through her freshman year, Holden became the 15th Ram to surpass 3,000 career minutes, now up to 3,910 for her career, which ranks third all-time, recently passing Annie Zopf ('09) against Charlotte, Denise Hammersley ('95) against Ball State, Kristina Bell ('11) against Columbia, Suzanne Maguire ('97) against Middle Tennessee State, both Monica Mack ('05) and Becky Peters ('12) at George Washington, and former teammate Hannah Missry ('17).
 
Bre Cavanaugh finished her freshman season with the second-most minutes played in a campaign (1,304) and this year the duo are once again at the top of the NCAA ranks. Cavanaugh's 38.54 per-game clip is second in the country with Holden right behind in fourth at 38.43.
 
This Is Our House
Since Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold an 93-29 (76.2%) record at home across 122 contests. Over the last two-plus seasons, the Rams are 36-8 in the Bronx, including a 13-3 mark in conference play and two Holiday Classic crowns. Last year, Fordham finished 15-3 at home overall and 6-2 in league action. On the flip side, Gaitley's Rams are 63-64 (49.6%) on the road or on neutral ground during her tenure.
 
60 is the Magic Number?
Fordham is 40-4 over its last two-plus seasons when scoring 60 points or more, including a 16-3 mark a year ago and 9-1 start to this season. After scoring at or under 55 points across the first six contests last season, the Rams rattled off 21 games with at least 60 points over their final 28 games. The loss at Pittsburgh was the first while scoring over 60 since a double-overtime loss at Saint Louis last January 31st.
 
Defense, Defense, Defense
No stat better represents the Gaitley-infused defense than Fordham's 61-6 record when holding opponents under 50 points during her tenure. Two Januarys ago, Saint Joseph's defeated the Rams, 47-44, at Hagan Arena in Philadelphia, ending a streak of 38 consecutive contests with such victories. The last time before that loss, coincidentally, was also against the Hawks, in the 2013 A-10 Championship game at the Barclays Center, 47-46. Wednesday's 47-44 loss to VCU snapped a streak of 16 straight wins. This year, the Rams have wins against Columbia, Iona, Middle Tennesseee State, George Washington, and Richmond in such instances.
 
Mary Goulding Named Atlantic 10 and National Jesuit Player of the Week
The New Zealand international earned her first weekly career accolades a month ago by averaging a double-double (13.0 points and 10.5 rebounds) agianst Penn State and Charlotte. The senior captain recorded 11 points and nine boards against the Lady Lions and was instrumental in the team's fourth-quarter rally against the 49ers, scoring 12 of her 16 points in the period alone. Goulding added 12 boards, a career-high two blocks, a steal, and an assist, and hauled in five offensive boards in each contest. Read more about Mary's week by clicking here.
 
Three Sign Their NLIs
Coach Gaitley and the program announced three future additions to the team as Anna DeWolfe, Eden Johnson, and Sarah Karpell signed their National Letters of Intent. To read more about the newest Rams, click here.
 
Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll Results
For the second year in a row the Rams have themselves a preseason First Team All-Conference honoree. Last year it was senior G'mrice Davis but this year it is redshirt sophomore Bre Cavanaugh, who finished up a sensational rookie campaign with Second Team and All-Rookie distinction plus being named the MBWA's Metropolitan Rookie of the Year. The team, meanwhile, was predicted to finish in a tie for third place, alongside reigning conference champions, George Washington, in what is the highest the Rams have ever been in the annual poll under Coach Gaitley. Click here to read more.
 
Career Milestone Watch
- Bre Cavanaugh is 90 points away from 1,000
- Bre Cavanaugh is four rebounds away from 300
- Mary Goulding is 16 three-pointers away from 50
- Mary Goulding is 20 rebounds away from 400
- Mary Goulding is 17 assists away from 150
- Mary Goulding is 88 minutes away from 2,000
- Kendell Heremaia is 20 assists away from 100
- Kendell Heremaia is six three-pointers away from 50
- Kendell Heremaia is eight field goals away from 100
- Kendell Heremaia is 20 minutes away from 1,000
- Kendell Heremaia is 11 field goals away from 100
- Lauren Holden is 45 points away from 1,050
- Lauren Holden is 13 three-pointers away from 200
- Lauren Holden is three appearances away from 120
- Lauren Holden is three assists away from 250
- Lauren Holden is six free throws away from 150
- Lauren Holden is 90 minutes away from 4,000
- Zara Jillings is 20 assists away from 100
 
Up Next
The Rams return home to host Davidson this Sunday afternoon, January 27^th, at 2 p.m.