Philadelphia, Pa. – The Fordham women's basketball team withstood a late La Salle surge to down the Explorers, 65-54, on Thursday night for its fifth Atlantic 10 victory, fourth on the road. With the win, the Rams improve to 14-8 overall on the year and 5-3 in league action, while La Salle falls to 3-19 and 0-8, respectively.
"Mary and Meg stepped up and Bre made big shots when we needed them," Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "Plus another solid game by Lauren. We found a way to fight through their runs. Any road win is a great win!"
Despite tallying a season-high 18 turnovers, the Rams got back in the win column with several terrific all-around performances plus late-game heroics by
Bre Cavanaugh. The team notched a season-high 11 steals and matched the second-most assists on the year with 17, while also dominating on the glass, 43-24, including a 16-5 margin on the offensive end.
Both teams started the game off cold from the field, each hitting just two of their first seven attempts.
Megan Jonassen, garnering her first career start, had both buckets for the visitors. After that initial stretch, however, the Fordham offense picked up and hit nine of its next 12 attempts from the field, with all but two buckets coming either off an assist or an offensive rebound.
Fordham led by 12 at the half, 38-26, and pushed its lead up to 16 after two minutes in the third with two more assisted baskets. The Rams defense held the hosts to just two free throws over the first five-plus minutes of the period heading into the media break with 4:41 to play in the frame. Out of that timeout, however, the Explorers began an offensive barrage to eventually tie the game back up in the fourth. After a Janay Sanders layup on the first possession after the interval,
Vilisi Tavui converted an and-one opportunity to push the lead back to 15, 45-30. However, the Explorers went on a 12-0 run to finish the period with three-point makes by four different players.
Layups from
Kendell Heremaia and Holden kept the lead at six in the opening minutes of the quarter but two more three-pointers, by Jasmine White and Jeryn Reese, tied the game up briefly at 49-all.
Bre Cavanaugh, who had three points up to that point, provided the go-ahead bucket immediately after with a pull-up jumper and promptly scored the Rams' next six points on a pair of triples, the latter bringing the lead back to six, 57-51. A layup by Jonassen and free throw makes down the stretch by Holden and
Mary Goulding secured the victory.
Goulding posted a stellar all-around line of 14 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals across all 40 minutes. The latter two stats both matched career-highs in what was her second straight double-double and fifth of the season. Jonassen notched her first career double-double by matching her season-high of 11 points to go with 10 rebounds. The duo hauled in four and seven offensive boards, respectively. Holden shared the game-high with 15 points, while Cavanaugh scored 11 to go with five rebounds. Off the bench, Heremaia tallied five points, three rebounds, three steals, and matched her career-high of six assists, while Jillings chipped in four points, four boards, two assists, and two steals, and Tavui added five points in eight minutes.
Fordham outshot the Explorers, 42.4% to 39.6% overall, but the hosts knocked down 8-of-14 three-point attempts, including 6-of-9 in the second half, compared to the Rams' 35.0% clip.
The Rams return home for the first of three straight Atlantic 10 contests in the Bronx this Sunday at noon against Duquesne. The game will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.
