Women's Basketball Clinches A-10 Championship First-Round Bye with Win over Dayton

Highlights | Photo Gallery | Postgame

Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team's winning ways continued on Wednesday night, dropping reigning Atlantic 10 regular season champions Dayton, 57-48, in a rematch from last month's road loss. With the win, and with help from around the league, the Rams have solidified a top-two seed and a first-round bye at the 2019 Atlantic 10 Championship in two weeks, with a chance to earn its first-ever regular season title on Saturday. Fordham improves to 21-8 overall and 12-3 in conference play, while the Flyers fall to 14-12 and 9-6, respectively.
 
"I'm super proud of our kids for a terrific win over Dayton!" Head coach Stephanie Gaitley, "Mary really stepped up and it was a terrific team effort!"
 
Fordham led for the majority of the contest, 32 minutes, in a game that was, as it usually is between the two schools, hard-fought and combative. The Rams held the Flyers to their fifth-worst field goal percentage of the season and third-worst mark from behind the arc, at 33.3% and 16.7%, respectively. Fordham, meanwhile, hit 36.7% of its shots, including a 10-of-25 mark from downtown (40.0%), the fifth time in the last seven games the Rams have sank double-digit three-pointers.
 
Senior captain Mary Goulding led the way with a career-high 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including a personal-best four triples, with 12 rebounds, three assists, and a team-high two steals over 38 minutes. Kendell Heremaia hit several timely shots to finish with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting overall and a career-high-tying four threes on six attempts.
 
Fordham started off strongly, taking a quick 9-2 lead. Goulding canned an open three-point look and Heremaia added another two possessions later. Goulding converted a three-point play to cap the run, but the Flyers rebounded with six unanswered points to get within one. Fordham didn't relinquish its lead, with Goulding driving for a lay-up unassisted heading into the media timeout. Lauren Holden pushed the lead back to five with a floater in the lane and seconds later Goulding stripped Lauren Cannatelli and sprinted away for a fastbreak lay-in to take the lead to seven, 15-8, with 2:23 to go. Dayton held the Rams off the board the rest of the period, however, and cut the deficit to three with baskets from leading scorers Cannatelli and Jayla Scaife.
 
The Flyers kept up the pressure, tying the game a minute into the second quarter on a Cannatelli three then took their first lead of the night on a Scaife jumper. Holden came through with a three in response but a pair of free throws by Julia Chandler pushed the visitors back ahead. Dayton took their largest leads of the night, 22-18, and, 24-20, with a Kyla Whitehead three and a Jordan Wilmoth jumper. From that point on, with four minutes to go in the half, the Rams went on a 9-0 run. Heremaia drained back-to-back threes in the space of a minute and then fed Bre Cavanaugh for one with 90 seconds to go.
 
A Goulding three to start the second half made the lead eight but the Flyers chipped away quickly at the deficit, tying the game at 32-all in just over three minutes. The Rangiora, New Zealand native stepped back and hit yet another long-range bomb to put the hosts back up three, 35-32, and the Rams led the rest of the third quarter by as little as one and as much as seven. The Flyers closed to within four, 42-39, heading to the final 10 minutes.
 
Jayla Scaife's jumper at the nine-minute mark tied the game up, 42-42, but it was Goulding, once again, with another clutch basket. Her fourth three of the night, a new career-high, pushed her into 20-point territory for the first time of her career, and proved to be the game-winning points, as well. With the visitors down one, 45-44, Cavanaugh hit a tough shot in traffic while getting fouled and converted the three-point play, then hit a pair of free throws on the next possession. Dayton wouldn't get within four the rest of the way as Fordham hit 8-of-9 free throws overall in the frame and 11-of-12 on the night.
 
Fordham lost the battle of the boards for just the fifth time this season, 35-32, and were held to a season-low five on the offensive end. Both teams committed 11 turnovers, but the Rams notched 12 assists to Dayton's nine. The Rams scored 17 points off Flyer turnovers.
 
Goulding's double-double was the eighth of her season. Her previous career-high was 19. Cavanaugh finished with 10 points, four rebounds, and a team-high four assists, while Holden chipped in seven points, a season-high five rebounds, an assist, and a steal.

The Rams have, for a second straight year, matched the program record for conference victories, with 12. 
 
A win on Saturday would guarantee Fordham at least a share of the Atlantic 10 regular season championship. A win and a VCU loss would give them sole possession of the title and the first overall seed, while a win and a VCU win would give them the share but the second seed based on a tiebreaker. A win would also give this year's Rams a new program record for conference victories. Tonight was the third time, and second straight year, that the team has notched 12 A-10 wins, all under Gaitley. 
 
The Rams tip off at Saint Joseph's at 12 p.m.