Release | A-10 Fordham Season Preview
 
Newport News, Va. – The 2019 Atlantic 10 champion women's basketball team has been picked to finish third in the annual preseason coaches' poll, garnering 174 total points and one first-place vote. Last year's co-regular season champions alongside the Rams, VCU, were picked to once again top the conference standings, getting 189 total points and 11 first-place votes.

"I don't pay too much attention to the preseason polls," Head coach Stephanie Gaitley said, "It gives you an idea about what other teams think of you, but ultimately our goal is to 'win the day' in everything we do. I'm confident that if we do that then we will have a better chance to be where we want to be in the final poll."
 
The other first-place votes went to Dayton and Saint Louis, who were predicted to finish second, with 177 points, and fourth, with 138 points, respectively. Davidson, with 135 votes, rounded out the top-five. After that, George Mason (116), George Washington (114), Massachusetts (107), Duquesne (98), and Saint Joseph's (67), make up the bottom half of the top-10.
 
Wrapping up the predicted standings were Richmond, Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure, and La Salle.
 
The Rams enjoyed a historic 2018-19 campaign that saw the team go on a 20-3 run after a 5-5 start, including a program record nine-game conference win streak and a record-matching 12-game overall win streak, en route to a share of their first-ever Atlantic 10 regular season title and the program's second Atlantic 10 championship, defeating their three opponents in Pittsburgh by a combined margin of 22.7 points per game.
 
Fordham saw team captains Mary Goulding and Lauren Holden graduate, but have three starters return, including this year's trio of captains – Bre Cavanaugh, Kaitlyn Downey, and Kendell Heremaia. Cavanaugh earned Atlantic 10 First Team All-Conference honors and finished runner-up in Player of the Year voting, while being named the Metropolitan Basketball Writers' Association's Player of the Year. Gaitley, who now has six 20-win seasons in eight years at the helm of the program, was named MBWA Coach of the Year for a third time and took home the same honors with the BCANY.
 
Last year's team held opposing offenses to just 54.4 points per game, ranked ninth in the country, a new high for Gaitley's typically defense-minded squads, and hit a program record 267 three-pointers. They also committed just 11.5 turnovers per contest, ranked eighth in the nation, and committed just 13.3 fouls per game, also ranked inside the top-10.
 
The Rams open up their 2019-20 campaign with a bang, welcoming last year's NCAA runners-up, Notre Dame, to the Rose Hill Gym next Tuesday night at 7 p.m.