Bronx, N.Y. –
Bre Cavanaugh tallied her second straight 20-point game, while three Rams combined for 22 points off the bench in the Fordham women's basketball team's 74-58 win over Northeastern on Wednesday night inside the Rose Hill Gym. With the win, the Rams improve to 1-4 overall, while the Huskies fall to 0-4.
"Great team win," Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "Super proud of our bench and how everyone played a part in our first win."
With
Kaitlyn Downey and
Kendell Heremaia struggling, Cavanaugh,
Anna DeWolfe, and the trio of
Megan Jonassen,
Katie McLoughlin, and
Vilisi Tavui combined for 58 of the team's points. The Rams won the first quarter, 17-13, then cruised to a 12-point advantage at halftime, 36-24, but the Huskies rallied ferociously with an 18-5 third period to reclaim the lead. The final 10 minutes, however, were all Fordham's. The Rams retook the lead for good on a buzzer-beating Downey heave, 46-45, and eventually racked up 33 points in the frame alone.
Fordham started the game off hot, scoring on its first offensive position via a DeWolfe floater along the baseline.
Sarah Karpell drained a three following a Heremaia steal, one of three for the junior, to jump out to a quick 5-0 lead. The Huskies took a brief one-point lead, 6-5, through a pair of free throws from Century McCartney, but the Rams closed on a 12-7 run. Karpell found Jonassen under the basket for a layup and McLoughlin drilled her first shot attempt of the night, a three, after stripping Mossi Staples. Layups from Karpell and Jonassen gave the hosts an eight-point cushion, 14-6, before the visitors rallied with seven straight points to get within one, the final bucket coming on an Alexis Hill jumper with 10 seconds remaining, but Downey drained a three at the buzzer on the other end.
The Rams went on a 16-5 run over a five-minute span in the second quarter, starting after a Kendall Currence jumper brought the score to three, 20-17, with 7:32 to play. Cavanaugh hit a jumper at the 6:50 mark to start the run and, following a DeWolfe steal, drilled a three. Tavui scored all of her career-high six points during the run, with good feeds all three times from Heremaia finding the redshirt sophomore down low, her last basket capping the run. Over the final two minutes, the only basket came on a Hill jumper with 36 seconds remaining.
Northeastern dominated the third period, limiting the Rams to just five points on 2-of-11 shooting, while hitting 53.8% of its own attempts, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Katie May hit back-to-back three-pointers followed by a Hill layup around three Fordham turnovers over the first 90 seconds, prompting Gaitley to call a timeout with the lead cut to four, 36-32. Out of the break, Cavanaugh hit a jumper following a Karpell offensive rebound and DeWolfe hit one of her own sandwiched around a Hill free throw to make it a seven-point game, 40-33. Northeastern tied the game up with seven unanswered points over the next three minutes. Karpell gave Fordham a late, brief, lead, 41-40, with a free throw after being fouled by Currence, but the latter found Ayanna Dublin for an easy lay-in with a few second remaining to hold the advantage heading to the final frame.
The fourth started off poorly for Fordham as Stella Clark nailed a three on the opening possession but the game soon swung in the Rams' favor. McLoughlin hit her second three of the night to get within one and Downey, at the end of the shotclock, saw her last-second heave bank in, which proved to be the difference in the game. DeWolfe hit two big threes on back-to-back possessions midway through the frame to turn a one-point lead into seven. Following a Hill layup, Karpell found her classmate in the corner for a triple then Downey did the same the next trip down the court. Jonassen came up with a timely offensive rebound and putback to retain that seven-point lead and Cavanaugh converted a three-point play to give Fordham a double-digit lead, 59-49, with 3:31 remaining. DeWolfe hit another three, notched a steal, and sank a couple freebies down the stretch to help maintain the lead, while Cavanaugh and Heremaia saw the game out with several trips to the charity stripe. All told, the Rams shot 8-of-11 from the field, 4-of-5 from three, and 13-of-15 from the line over the final 10 minutes.
The Rams notched several firsts of the year, outshooting the Huskies, 46.3% to 39.3%, and outrebounding their opponents, 31-30. Fordham recorded a season-high 19 assists but also committed a season-high 17 turnovers. Fordham enjoyed its second double-digit steal performance of the year, as well, with a season-best 11 steals, while matching their season-high with three blocks. The team's 19 assists are tied for the fifth-most in the last five years.
Cavanaugh played all 40 minutes for a fourth time this season, scoring a game-high 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting, with two triples, and 5-of-5 from the line, with six rebounds, two assists, and two steals. DeWolfe enjoyed her second straight 15-point outing, hitting 5-of-9 from the floor, 3-of-6 from deep, and 2-of-2 from the line, with four boards, three dimes, and a season-high three steals over 33 minutes. Karpell played a season-high 38 minutes, contributing six points and sharing the team-lead with five assists with Heremaia, who was 0-of-3 from the field but 5-of-6 from the line, adding six boards, three steals, and a block.
Jonassen nearly double-doubled in 20 minutes off the bench, hitting 4-of-5 shots, to go with eight boards. McLoughlin played a career-high 12 minutes and hit 2-of-3 long-range attempts to match her career-high of six points, adding a pair of assists and steals, while Tavui did her damage in just seven minutes off the bench.
Fordham now embarks on a lengthy road trip, traveling this weekend to Charlotte for a 1 p.m. game on Sunday, before heading to the Bahamas for Hoopfest in Nassau the following weekend.
