Riverdale, N.Y. – For a ninth consecutive year, the Fordham women's basketball team won the annual Battle of the Bronx against Manhattan, this time in a defensive battle, 51-45, on the road. For a second straight season,
Bre Cavanaugh earned MVP honors, leading the Rams with a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double. With the win, the team's fourth in the last five, Fordham improves to 4-5 overall, while the Jaspers fall to 2-5.
After a dominant opening 10 minutes that saw a 15-4 advantage in favor of the visitors, the Rams offense struggled to put the ball in the hoop, recording just four field goals in each of the next three periods. However, timely offensive rebounds and makes, first by
Kendell Heremaia and then by
Anna DeWolfe, created some separation and Cavanaugh and
Kaitlyn Downey saw the game out by hitting their free throws at the end.
The Jaspers couldn't connect on their first 12 attempts from the field, falling behind, 6-0, at the first media timeout. Fordham closed out the period on a 9-4 run over the next three-and-a-half minutes, led by Cavanaugh's nine points. Manhattan finished the frame shooting 2-of-16 from the field. Five of
Megan Jonassen's seven rebounds came on the offensive glass and her second came early in the second quarter leading to a DeWolfe triple with just over two minutes gone. That was the offense's lone basket until a Downey layup five-plus minutes later, a drought that ran up to 1-of-14 prior to that. The Rams finished the half on a 3-of-5 run to lead, 24-18, at the break.
Cavanaugh Earned MVP Honors for a Second Straight Year
Manhattan continued to chip away at its deficit and took its first lead of the night on a fastbreak Gabby Cajou layup, 36-35, with 1:26 left in the third quarter. The advantage didn't last long as Cavanaugh hit one of her two free throws just 12 seconds later to tie things up. Downey added a pair for a two-point cushion heading to the final 10 minutes.
Cavanaugh kicked off the fourth with a pair of freebies, while the defense held the Jaspers without a field goal over the opening three minutes. Heremaia came up with one of the aforementioned offensive rebounds midway through the period to keep things in Fordham's control. The junior charged the lane to haul in a carom and quickly put it back up on the run for her first basket of the game with 6:36 to play, 42-38. The second important offensive board came when Jonassen snagged a miss and passed it to Cavanaugh, who drilled a three, spacing the two teams by five, 45-40, with five minutes to play. Manhattan mustered just three points the rest of the way, one from the line and two on a Courtney Warley jumper.
Cavanaugh led the way with 21 points on 7-of-20 shooting, hitting a season-high three threes, with 12 rebounds, matching her career-high, with two steals over 39 minutes. DeWolfe finished with 13 points but committed six turnovers. Downey recorded her second career double-double, notching 11 points and 11 rebounds to go with two blocks. Heremaia also hauled in double-figure rebounds, 10, to go with four points.
Fordham returns home to host Georgetown on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.
