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Game Notes
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team opens its 2019-20 campaign by welcoming last year's NCAA runner-up, #16/14 Notre Dame, to the Rose Hill Gym on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. The contest will be streamed live on ESPN+. Fan can find all the ways to follow along with tomorrow night's action above if they can't make it out to the Bronx.
 
Last Time Out
The Fordham Rams won the 2019 Atlantic 10 championship, in addition to a share of the program's first-ever regular season title, and went to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in school history. The Rams, with a top-10 defense nationally, stymied opponent after opponent during a 12-game win streak through the championship at Duquesne, capping a 20-3 record after beginning the year 5-5. Head coach Stephanie Gaitley was named Coach of the Year by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association and the BCANY, while Bre Cavanaugh and Mary Goulding earned First Team All-Conference honors, the first Fordham pair to do so in the same year. Last year's 25 wins were tied for the third-most in program history and the team's 267 three-pointers set a new single-season record.
 
What's New?
The Rams lost two valuable starters in Mary Goulding and Lauren Holden but return 12 total, plus a talented trio of freshmen in Anna DeWolfe, Sarah Karpell, and Eden Johnson, and the return of Chloe Chaffin who suffered a season-ending injury after just two contests last year and redshirted. Leading the way for the Rams will be this year's captains – Bre Cavanaugh, Kaitlyn Downey, and Kendell Heremaia.
 
Series History vs. Notre Dame
The two schools have met just twice before, with the Fighting Irish taking both contests. Notre Dame was victorious in 2000 in South Bend and again three seasons ago in the second round of the preseason WNIT when they were ranked number one in the nation. Bre Cavanaugh redshirted that year, while Kendell Heremaia and Zara Jillings were early enrollees but were not officially on the roster.  
 
999
Head coach Stephanie Gaitley, the program's winningest coach, has coached in 998 contests entering this season. Notre Dame will be 999 and Sunday's game at Columbia will be her 1,000^th.
 
Quite the Start
Bre Cavanaugh has started all 68 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 2,601 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 141, free throws, eighth with 260, and is fourth all-time with a 17.0 point-per-game average. Cavanaugh has been held to single digit scoring just seven times in her career and has 26 games of 20 or more points, including 37 points two seasons ago, fourth-most in school history, and what was the Atlantic 10's highest output that year.
 
This Is Our House
Since Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold an 98-30 (76.6%) record at home across 128 contests. Over the last three seasons, the Rams are 41-9 in the Bronx, including a 19-5 mark in conference play and two Holiday Classic crowns. Last year, Fordham finished 12-3 at home overall and 6-2 in league action. On the flip side, Gaitley's Rams are 71-65 (52.2%) on the road or on neutral ground during her tenure.
 
60 is the Magic Number?
Fordham is 46-4 over its last three seasons when scoring 60 points or more, including a 15-1 record last season. The loss at Pittsburgh last December was the first while scoring over 60 since a double-overtime loss at Saint Louis the previous January. The Rams are currently riding a 10-game streak of wins when scoring 60 points or more.
 
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 play nearby Columbia on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.