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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team (3-5) returns to the States following its trip to the Bahamas to participate in this week's annual Battle of the Bronx. The Rams will play at Manhattan (2-4) on Thursday night at 7 p.m. ESPN+ will carry live coverage.
 
Last Time Out
Fordham split its two contests down in Nassau, falling to #25 Arkansas on Friday, but rallying to defeat Lehigh at the buzzer, 59-57, on Saturday. Against the Razorbacks, who came into the contest averaging 89.7 points per contest, seventh in the country, the Rams held them to nearly 20 points below that average and made a late charge with 21 fourth-quarter points. Fordham again made a late rally in game two, scoring 20 points over the final 10 minutes to overtake the Mountain Hawks, who had led since the end of the first quarter. The Rams defense limited Lehigh to just 33.3% shooting over the final three periods, cutting the deficit from double digits to just two at the end of the third as the offense hit 9-of-13 shots in the fourth, including a buzzer-beating three by Kaitlyn Downey.
 
Bre Cavanaugh led the squad with 15.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.0 steals in Nassau, while shooting 35.7% overall and 8-of-9 from the charity stripe, while also tallying her first double-double of the year with 19 points and 12 rebounds against Arkansas. Against Lehigh, it was Kendell Heremaia's turn, recording her second career double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
 
Series History vs. Manhattan
This will be the 51st Battle of the Bronx. The Rams hold a 26-24 all-time advantage over the Jaspers since 1980, when the latter were victorious, 69-56, inside Draddy Gym. Fordham has been on a roll in the rivalry, usurping Manhattan for the series lead by winning the last eight meetings, including last year's 65-61 victory in the Rose Hill Gym. The Rams rallied with a 21-14 fourth-quarter, led by Bre Cavanaugh's 27 points and 11 rebounds.
 
DeWolfe Named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week
The freshman from Cumberland, Maine was instrumental in the team's first two wins of the season, matching and then surpassing her season-highs in scoring and averaging 20.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals over 36.5 minutes, while shooting 48.4% from the floor and 41.2% from deep. She was named Rookie of the Week on November 25.
 
1,000
Head coach Stephanie Gaitley, the program's winningest coach, has joined the 1,000-game club with the team's second game of the year, at Columbia. She has amassed a 636-370 career record over 34 seasons at five schools. 
 
Striking the Right Balance
Already through eight games, Fordham is seeing plenty of production spread around the members of its rotation. Cavanaugh is unsurprisingly leading the charge in scoring in half the games, but Heremaia (thrice), DeWolfe (once), and Downey (once) have also stepped up. Four different Rams have led the team in rebounding, four have led the team in assists, six have had at least one game with a share of or the team-high in steals, and five have led the way in blocks at least once, as well. Five different players have scored in double figures, with Cavanaugh, DeWolfe, Downey, and Heremaia doing so at least four times apiece.
 
Busy Bre
Bre Cavanaugh has started all 76 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 entered the all-time top-10 in scoring, amassing 1,276 career points, up to ninth all-time. The Allamuchy, N.J. native has racked up 2,914 career minutes thus far out of a possible 3,070 (94.9%), finishing each of the last two seasons within the top-10 in that category nationally. She's already moved into the top-10 for three-pointers, now ninth with 152, is fifth with 290 free throws, and is fourth all-time with a 16.8 point-per-game average. She has been held to single digit scoring just nine times in her career and has 28 games of 20 or more points.
 
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 attempted (7-of-17), and three-pointers made and attempted (5-of-11). She also chipped in six boards and three assists. She had another terrific performance against Lehigh in the Bahamas with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 3-of-6 from deep, with 13 rebounds, four assists, and a block over just 27 minutes. Heremaia is fourth on the team in scoring with 11.9 points per game and is shooting 44.6% overall from the field and 41.5% from behind the arc with 17 made threes, second-most in the squad. She continues to stuff the stat sheet, as well, with a team-high 8.0 rebounds, plus 23 asists, five steals, and four blocks.
 
Downey's Fast Start
The sophomore tri-captain has began her sophomore campaign impressively, averaging 12.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.0 steals, and 0.9 blocks over 28.8 minutes game, while shooting 48.7% from the field and 41.3% 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. Downey set a new career-high with 19 points at Columbia then bested that with 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting, 6-of-8 from behind the arc, at Charlotte.
 
Anna The Wolfe
Freshman Anna DeWolfe has burst onto the scene in a big way, nearly triple-doubling against #16 Notre Dame in the season opener (10 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists), and recording at least nine points in all but one contest to begin her collegiate career, including a season-high 25 points at Charlotte. The Cumberland, Maine native is second on the team with 12.8 points per game on 39.6% shooting overall, 31.8% from deep, with 4.5 rebounds, a team-high 29 assists (3.6 per game), and eight steals over 35.0 minutes per contest. She has one A-10 Rookie of the Week under her belt already.
 
Crashing the Offensive Glass
A staple recently of the Stephanie Gaitley Rams is the team's prowess on the offensive boards. Whether it was Abigail Corning, Sam Clark, and company five years ago during the team's first title run, the two years in which G'mrice Davis averaged a double-double, or last year's squad who grabbed nearly one-third of all their rebounds on the offensive glass (32.1%), with six different players finishing with at least 35 offensive rebounds on the year. Despite the loss of Mary Goulding, the Rams haven't skipped a beat, with 29.6% of their 274 rebounds coming on the offensive end (81). Sophomore Megan Jonassen this year (18-of-31) and for her career (71-of-137) has more offensive rebounds than defensive. Half of Sarah Karpell's 20 boards are on that end as are all six of Katie McLoughin's rebounds. Five Rams already have double-digit offensive boards, led by Jonassen off the bench. Cavanaugh is next with 13.
 
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 Georgetown on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. inside the Rose Hill Gym.