Women's Basketball Felled by Villanova

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team overcame a sluggish start to tie Villanova late and eventually lead, but the Rams eventually fell to the Wildcats, 73-66, on Sunday evening. With the loss, Fordham falls to 0-4 on the season, while Villanova improves to 1-3.
 
"The toughness of this schedule is showing our weaknesses," Head coach Stephanie Gaitley said, "We will be a much better team at the end of the year because of it!"
 
Before the game, Gaitley honored her college coach, Villanova's Harry Perretta, on his impending retirement, and was then honored herself with a commemorative ball for her 1,000^th career game that came at Columbia on November 10.
 
Redshirt junior Bre Cavanaugh went off for a season-high 23 points and the hosts took a one-point lead in the fourth on a Kendell Heremaia three, but the Rams couldn't overcome Villanova converting 62.5% of its field goals. Fordham began the game quickly with Cavanaugh getting to the line to hit one of her two free throws. Heremaia added a mid-range jumper as did Anna DeWolfe to give the hosts a 5-3 lead early on. A Cavanaugh jumper gave the Rams their largest lead of the night, 11-7, and her three-pointer with three minutes to go in the period tied the game up at 14-14. However, the Wildcats held Fordham off the board over those final minutes while scoring six unanswered.
 
Heremaia drained a three to start the second, getting her team within three, 20-17, then stole the ball from Bridget Herlihy, but DeWolfe couldn't convert on the other end. Villanova led by at least five the rest of the frame and finished the first half on a 5-0 run to lead by 10 at the intermission, 31-21. Fordham began to chip away at Villanova's lead, beginning the half with a Heremaia jumper and going on a 10-2 run over a three-minute span, including eight straight points through threes by DeWolfe and Cavanaugh sandwiched around a Kaitlyn Downey jumper, to tie the game at 35-35, prompting a timeout by Perretta. Villanova closed the third on a 13-7 run, leading by as much as eight through a Brooke Mullin triple.
 
Cavanaugh came out firing in the fourth, sinking a pair of jumpers to cut the deficit to two, 48-46. A Sarah Karpell three made it a one-point game, 50-49, and the Rams were able to get their first lead since midway through the opening quarter, 54-53, following a pair of freebies by Cavanaugh and a Heremaia trey. The lead didn't last long, however, as Madison Siegrist grabbed her own miss and put it back in, proving to be the go-ahead bucket. Mullin responded to a Cavanaugh long-range miss with a make of her own, forcing Gaitley into a timeout with 3:34 to play. The lead never dipped below five over the final three minutes.
 
Cavanaugh led the way with a season-high 23 points, hitting 7-of-18 attempts, including two threes, and converting 7-of-10 from the stripe, adding a team-high four assists and four steals, plus three rebounds over all 40 minutes, the third time in four games she's gone the distance to begin the campaign. DeWolfe chipped in a season-high 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go with three rebounds, two assists, and a steal, while Heremaia added 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting with a team-high seven rebounds, two assists, and a steal before fouling out. Downey scored eight and Karpell, making her second consecutive start, adding a season-high seven points, four boards, three assits, and one steal across 37 minutes.
 
Key to Villanova's efficiency was the duo of Siegrist and Mary Gedaka, who combined to shoot 24-of-32 from the field for 56 points. Siegrist hit 3-of-5 three-point attempts and the two combined for 11 rebounds and six assists, as well. The Wildcats struggled from the free-throw line, converting just 8-of-17 chances (47.1%).
 
Both teams grabbed 27 rebounds. Fordham had its first positive assist-turnover ratio, with 14 dimes and a season-low 11 turnovers, while forcing the Wildcats into 16 mistakes.
 
Fordham remains at home to host Northeastern on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+.