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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team (0-3) will look to pick up its first win of the season on Sunday against Villanova (0-3) in the second game of a doubleheader at the Rose Hill Gym. Tip-off against the Wildcats is set for 5 p.m. with ESPN+ and WFUV 90.7 broadcasting live coverage.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams grabbed 18 offensive rebounds and shot 44.4% from behind the arc at Penn State but it wasn't enough, falling, 72-59, on the road for their third loss of the year. Junior Kendell Heremaia scored a career-high 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting, including a personal-best five three-pointers, while Kaitlyn Downey, coming off the bench, added 14 points, hitting 4-of-6 three-point attempts. Each time Fordham got close to the Lady Lions, the hosts would respond with a bucket to maintain their cushion, leading by five, 29-24, at halftime. Penn State pulled away in the third, going on a 21-8 run over the first six-and-a-half minutes, hitting all six of their attempts and 7-of-10 from the line. The Rams committed four turnovers during the stretch and converted 3-of-7 chances. The visitors rallied a bit to get within eight, 53-45, after seeing the lead balloon to as high as 18, but the Lady Lions led comfortably the rest of the way. Fordham struggled inside the arc, hitting 10-of-35 two-point attempts, while Penn State shot 53.2% overall. The Rams had 15 more shot attempts thanks to their offensive rebounding, six more than their 12 defensive boards, but along with the shooting struggles, the Rams also went to the line just twice, while Penn State hit 15-of-21 from the stripe.
 
Series History vs. Villanova
The two schools have met just five times before, all between 1972 and 1980, with the Wildcats winning all five contests. Two of the five games came in the Bronx, in 1973 and 1975. The second-most recent meeting featured Fordham head coach Stephanie Gaitley, as a player. Then Stephanie Vanderslice, she helped the Wildcats to a 72-67 win in Villanova on January 4, 1980. Most recently, the Rams fell, 60-48, in the final of the Wildcat Christmas Classic during the 1993-94 season, the year Fordham won its first Patriot League championship.
 
1,000
Head coach Stephanie Gaitley, the program's winningest coach, has joined the 1,000-game club with Sunday's game at Columbia. She has amassed a 633-368 career record over 34 seasons at five schools.
 
Heremaia's Career Night
Despite the result, junior tri-captain Kendell Heremaia enjoyed a career night at Penn State, setting personal-bests in scoring (19 points), field goals made and attempts (7-of-17), and three-pointers made and attempts (5-of-11). She also chipped in six boards and three assists. Heremaia leads the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game and is shooting 44.7% overall and 43.5% from behind the arc, both marks second-best on the team.
 
Downey's Fast Start
The tri-captain has began her sophomore campaign impressively, averaging 13.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 steals, 1.3 assists, and 1.0 blocks, and over 28.7 minutes game, while shooting a team-high 48.5% from the field and 44.4% from deep. Downey was immense defensively against #16 Notre Dame, racking up a team-high 11 rebounds, five steals, and two blocks to go with seven points, the last two of which got the Rams within two, 57-55, with 11 seconds left in regulation. At Columbia, Downey poured in a career-high 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting. 
 
Near Trip-Dub
Freshman Anna DeWolfe was incredibly impressive in her first collegiate game, showing no fear in the close loss to perennial powerhouse Notre Dame. The Cumberland, Maine native played 37 minutes, second-most on the team, with a facemask on after an injury suffered during practice a few weeks ago, and nearly recorded the team's third triple-double in its history and first since Erin Rooney's in January 2014. DeWolfe racked up 10 points, nine rebounds, and a team-high nine assists, plus a steal, but struggled with her shot a bit, hitting 5-of-16 from the floor, including 0-of-6 from behind the arc. She was named Miss Maine Basketball each of the past two years and is one of the most decorated high school players in the state's history.
 
Quite the Start
Bre Cavanaugh has started all 71 contests in her Fordham career and has been nothing short of spectacular for the Rams during her time in maroon and white. The redshirt junior became the third-fastest Ram to reach 1,000 career points, doing so in 60 contests, and has already amassed 2,719 career minutes, finishing each of the last two seasons within the top-10 in that category. She's already moved into the top-10 for three-pointers, now ninth with 144, eighth with 266 free throws, and is fourth all-time with a 16.8 point-per-game average. Cavanaugh has been held to single digit scoring just nine times in her career and has 26 games of 20 or more points.
 
This Is Our House
Since Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold a 99-30 (76.7%) record at home across 129 contests. Over the last three seasons, the Rams are 41-10 in the Bronx, including a 19-5 mark in conference play and two Holiday Classic crowns. Last year, Fordham finished 12-4 at home overall and 6-2 in league action. On the flip side, Gaitley's Rams are 70-67 (51.1%) on the road or on neutral ground during her tenure.
 
Defense, Defense, Defense
No stat better represents the Gaitley-infused defense than Fordham's 69-6 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. The team's 47-44 loss to VCU on January 16th snapped a streak of 16 straight wins. A new streak began soon after with a 56-38 win at Rhode Island, which has reached eight games entering this season.
 
Rams in the Pros
G'mrice Davis, who graduated in 2017, currently plays professionally with Bnot Hertzeliya in Israel after spending time in Greece with GAS Kalyvion and Australia with the Rockland Cyclones, which featured her former teammate and 2019 graduate Mary Goulding. Mary finished her season strong and moved on to Sweden, where she now plays for IK Eos. Lauren Holden, who graduated in 2019, immediately moved into coaching, joining up with former associate head coach Angelika Szumilo at Fairleigh Dickinson as one of her assistants.
 
Up Next
The Rams host Northeastern this Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.