Women's Basketball Welcomes Saint Louis to Rose Hill Wednesday

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Game Notes
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team (15-8, 6-3 A-10) took down preseason conference favorites Duquesne on Sunday afternoon, the fifth time in nine games an opponent has been held below 50 points. The Rams now welcome Saint Louis (10-12, 5-4 A-10) to the Rose Hill Gym on Wednesday night in the second game of this week's three-game homestand as the Billikens look to avenge a mid-January loss at home.
 
Upcoming Promotions
Ram Fans, check out the upcoming promotion for Sunday's contest:
 
February 10^th – National Women and Girls in Sports Day / PINK Day / Alumni Day

• Pregame Cheer Clinic run by the Fordham cheerleader team (sign up here) at noon
• Meet & Greet with various Fordham women's team and student-athletes pregame
• Giveaways for pink pom-poms and pink water bottles

 
Fans are strongly encouraged to wear PINK in support of women's health! See you at the Rose Hill Gym!
 
Last Time Out
Sunday's marquee billing lived up to expections in a fast-paced back-and-forth first quarter that saw the visiting Dukes take a 17-13 lead with a 10-2 run after the media timeout. Duquesne kept up its momentum in the early going of the second period, maintaining its four-point lead, 22-18, at the 6:19 mark. After that, though, it was all Fordham, as the hosts ripped off a 14-5 run to finish the half. Mary Goulding's three at the four-minute mark proved to be the eventual game winner. The Dukes got within three twice in the third quarter, but after Chassidy Omogrosso's triple with 6:06 to go in the frame, the Rams rattled off seven unanswered points that stretched to their own 14-5 run, capped by a Kaitlyn Downey buzzer-beating layup following an offensive rebound. The visitors were unable to get the deficit to single digits the rest of the way.
 
Lauren Holden posted her second straight 15-point game to lead the Rams offensively, hitting 6-of-13 shots, including 3-of-5 from behind the arc, with four rebounds and three assists. Kendell Heremaia busted out of a recent scoring slump with 14 points, hitting a career-best four three-pointers, her most points since her career-high 17 against Texas. Goulding chipped in 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and a steal, while freshmen starters Downey and Megan Jonassen combined for 10 points and nine rebounds. Bre Cavanaugh matched her career-low of four points but had a game-high five assists plus six rebounds and a steal.
 
Fordham converted on 36.8% of its chances, including a 40.0% mark from downtown, with a 35-29 win on the glass, including 12-6 on the offensive end. The team's 10 three-pointers are tied for second-most on the year.
 
Series History vs. Saint Louis
The Billikens hold a 10-8 all-time series advantage since 2006 when they entered the Atlantic 10. Fordham took the first meeting, 70-58, at home before each school rattled off five straight wins. Saint Louis has won five of the last seven meetings since 2015 but Fordham took this year's first match-up, 56-53, on the road. Bre Cavanaugh, after scoring a league-high 37 points in last year's double overtime loss on the road, posted a game-high 18 points in last month's game, while Kendell Heremaia hauled in a career-high 16 rebounds. Mary Goulding notched 12 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, while Kaitlyn Downey matched her season-high of 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting from behind the arc.
 
Swiper No Swiping
Fordham is third in the country in limiting turnovers, with just 11.2 per game. Fordham has committed between five and 15 turnovers thus far this season in all but one game, with five single-digit turnover performances and nine games with 10 or less. The team's five turnovers at Saint Louis were the fewest since the 2012-13 squad committed just four against Holy Cross on January 6 of that year.
 
The Rams have five of the top 20 in assist/turnover ratio in the Atlantic 10. Zara Jillings is tied for fourth (1.7), Bre Cavanaugh and Mary Goulding are tied for 15th (1.4), and Kaitlyn Downey and Lauren Holden are tied for 19th (1.3). All six Rams who are averaging 20 or more minutes have a positive assist/turnover ratio and the team as a whole has a 304-256 ratio, ranked 33rd in the country (1.18).
 
Conference Only
The Rams are 6-3 in Atlantic 10 action thus far, with a 4-1 record on the road. The team is playing its typically stout Gaitley-inspired defense, holding opponents to just 50.7 points per game through nine games, tops in the league, with just two opponents scoring over 55 points. Bre Cavanaugh leads the charge offensively with 13.2 points per game, while Mary Goulding is averaging close to a double-double (11.6 points, 8.9 rebounds) with a team-high 29 assists and 12 steals. Lauren Holden is chipping in 11.0 points on 39.1% shooting from long range and Kendell Heremaia has averages of 7.0 points and 6.4 rebounds. Conference-only stats can be found on page 29.
 
Seven-Game Winning Streak
Prior to the team's loss to VCU, the Rams had rattled off seven straight wins since opening nonconference action with a 5-5 record. During the run, Fordham had wins at Iona, over Maine and Middle Tennessee State at the 12th Annual Holiday Classic, at George Washington, Richmond at home, and at Saint Louis to begin conference play. Here were some key stats from the team's winning streak:
                - Average margin of victory: 60.6 to 48.7 (+11.9)
                - Outshot opponents 40.9% to 38.9% overall and 33.3% to 22.3% from behind the arc
                - Outrebounded opponents 36.3 to 28.0 (+8.3), including 90-49 on the offensive glass
                - Bre Cavanaugh averaged 16.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.6 steals over 39.4 minutes
                - Mary Goulding averaged 11.7 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game
                - Lauren Holden averaged 10.9 points on 46.7% overall shooting and 44.1% from deep
                - Jonassen (54.5%), Goulding (50.7%), Jillings (47.6%), and Holden (46.7%), shot well
 
Coach Gaitley Reaches 150 Fordham Victories
The 68-49 win over Columbia was head coach Stephanie Gaitley's 150th in charge of the Fordham women's basketball program. She became the program's all-time winningest coach in 2016 and picked up career victory number 600 last year.
 
Other milestone Fordham victories for Coach Gaitley include:
                - First win: at home against Cleveland State, 52-43, on 11/16/11
                - 50th win: at home against Saint Louis, 74-52, on 1/2/14
                - 63rd win: in the A-10 Championship game against Dayton, 63-51, on 3/9/14, in Richmond, Va.
                - 100th win: against Little Rock, 65-43, at home in the opening round of the preseason WNIT on 11/19/16
                - 116th win (to become program's leader in wins): vs. Massachusetts, 74-43, on 2/11/17
 
#ShareTheRock
The Rams have a 304/256 assist/turnover ratio through 23 games thus far this season, ranked 33rd in the country (1.18), and no one player stands above the rest in terms of spreading the wealth on offense. Four different players have between 55 and 64 dimes on the year: Mary Goulding leads the squad with 64, Kendell Heremaia is close behind with 61, while Lauren Holden and Bre Cavanaugh have 55 each. Zara Jillings has 37, as well, off the bench. All six players averaging over 19 minutes have a positive assist/turnover ratio.
 
Kiwis Coming Through
Fordham's New Zealand contingent of Mary Goulding, Kendell Heremaia, and Zara Jillings combined for 37 points against Charlotte, including 22 in the fourth quarter alone out of the team's 29 points. Jillings hit a three-pointer in the corner then fed Heremaia for a layup to retake the lead for good and Goulding scored 12 points the rest of the way, all from the field, to secure the victory. Against Ball State, with Goulding struggling with her shot (despite tallying seven boards and a game-high six dimes), Heremaia and Jillings each set new career-highs in scoring, with 15 and 12 points, respectively, with the former matching her career-high six field goals and three triples, the latter notching a personal-best two steals to go with eight rebounds and five assists. The trio combined for 27 points and 16 rebounds against Washington and Heremaia netted a new career-best 17 points against #10/9 Texas in the Gulf Coast Showcase final. Heremaia set a new career-high with 16 rebounds against Saint Louis, the most since G'mrice Davis hauled in 18 against Saint Joseph's last March 2nd. Goulding was a big part of the team's win last Thursday at La Salle, as well, posting a monster all-around line of 14 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, and four steals, the latter two matching her career-highs.
 
Goulding and Heremaia are second and fourth on the team in scoring, respectively, with 10.9 and 8.1 points per game, are first and second in assists, with 64 and 61, respectively, and  first and third in rebounding, with 7.9 and 5.2, respectively, while Jillings chips in 4.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 37 assists off the bench. The Kiwis have combined to average 23.0 points per game, or 38.5% of the team's scoring, 16.0 rebounds (44.9% of the team's rebounding), and 162 assists, or 53.3% of the team's total of 304. Against Manhattan on December 1st was the first of three times all three have started together. 
 
Crashing the Offensive Glass
Last year, nearly one-third of the Rams' 1,268 total rebounds came on the offensive glass (408 - 32.1%). Fordham lost leading rebounder G'mrice Davis in the offseason but the Rams haven't missed a beat thus far in 2018-19, hauling in just over that mark (283-of-818 – 34.6%). Six different Rams have at least 28 offensive boards: Mary Goulding leads the way with 69-of-173 offensive boards (39.9%), Megan Jonassen has an even 45-45 split, Bre Cavanaugh has 37,  Kaitlyn Downey has 32, Zara Jillings has 30, and Kendell Heremaia has 28. Fordham has had between 12 and 19 offensive rebounds in 14 contests this year, including the first six of the year and the last three. The Rams matched their season-high with 19 against Maine.
 
Wubba Lubba Dub-Dub
Through 23 games to open the 2018-19 season, the Rams have had 13 double-doubles by five different players. Redshirt sophomore Bre Cavanaugh, who had zero entering this season, and Mary Goulding each have five. Goulding has four near-identical ones - grabbing 12 rebounds each time - before posting 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds against Davidson. Kaitlyn Downey posted 11 points and 11 rebounds against Penn State for her first career double-double, Kendell Heremaia did the same with 13 points and 10 rebounds against Washington, and Megan Jonassen joined them with 11 points and 10 boards at La Salle for her first career double-double in her first career start. G'mrice Davis graduated in May tied for a NCAA-wide lead with 57 career double-doubles and had 27 last year alone.
 
Holden Ascending the All-Time Ranks
Having played the third-most minutes in Fordham history, it's no surprise to see Lauren Holden's name high up in the record book. The Cape May, N.J. native's recent hot shooting from deep has pushed her into the all-time top-five for three-pointers made, past Maureen Garvey ('01) and current Director of Ops Abigail Corning ('14), with 195 career long-range makes. Next is Suzanne Maguire, who has 200. Her 85.0% career rate from the free-throw line sits fifth all-time, as well. She became the 21st member of the program's 1,000-point club, currently at 1,056, 19th all-time, at Dayton and is on pace to break the record for career minutes played and enter the top-five for games played and stated, currently at 121 and 106, respectively. She became just the third player to ever reach the 4,000-minute plateau, currently at 4,069 minutes played, 155 and 157 behind Corning and Samantha Clark.
 
G'mrice Thriving in Greece
Former Fordham standout forward G'mrice Davis, the program's second All-American honorable mention, signed her first professional contract with GAS Kalyvion in the Greek A1 league over the summer and, through her team's first 12 contests, is leading the league in rebounding (15.4 per game), is second in scoring (19.5), and is chipping in 2.2 steals, as well, helping Kalyvion to a 7-5 record and fourth-place spot in the league table. The top four teams in the league advance to the playoffs. Eurobasket.com has already named G'mrice the league's Player of the Week four times, all coming in the last six weeks.
 
Quite the Start
Bre Cavanaugh has started all 57 contests in her Fordham career and has been nothing short of spectacular for the Rams during her time in maroon and white. The redshirt sophomore finished her freshman season with the second-most minutes ever played in a single campaign, with 1,306, and is averaging 38.2 minutes per game so far in her career. She recently moved into the all-time top-10 for career three-pointers, tied for 10th with 111, and is close already in free throws. She is averaging 16.8 career points per game with 314 field goals, 111 three-pointers, and 217 free throws, with an average of 5.6 rebounds per game, a 115-92 assist-to-turnover ratio, and 64 steals. She is on pace to join the 1,000-point club over the next few weeks, currently at 956 career points. Cavanaugh has only been held to single-digit scoring six times in her career and has 21 games of 20 or more points. She became the fourth Fordham rookie last year to record multiple 30-point games and just the sixth player, in any class, to accomplish the feat, as well, with her 37-point game at Saint Louis (1/31/18) serving as the fourth-most by a Fordham player ever and the Atlantic 10's season-high all of last year.
 
Heremaia Raising the Bar
Sophomore Kendell Heremaia has been terrific for the Rams this year, starting all but one contest, after making seven starts in 33 appearances last year, is second on the team with 61 assists, and is averaging 8.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. The Whangarei, New Zealand native has set four new highs in scoring, starting with 13 in the season opener against Wagner and culiminating in 17 against #10 Texas, and set a new career-high with 16 rebounds at Saint Louis. Heremaia has hit at least one three-pointer in all but three games and has shot 50% or better in six contests. The sophomore was shooting 47.7% from the field and 43.2% from behind the arc over her first 10 contests of the year. She has played 25 or more minutes in 17 contests this year.
 
Got a Minute?
Senior co-captain Lauren Holden set a new Fordham record with 1,333 minutes played last year, which ranked fourth in the country and second on a per-game basis (39.2), and is on pace to break the all-time school record, currently held by current Director of Player Development Samantha Clark, who played 4,156 minutes in her career (current Director of Ops Abigail Corning in next with 4,154). A starter midway through her freshman year, Holden became the third Ram to surpass 4,000 career minutes, now up to 4,069 for her career, which ranks third all-time, recently passing Annie Zopf ('09) against Charlotte, Denise Hammersley ('95) against Ball State, Kristina Bell ('11) against Columbia, Suzanne Maguire ('97) against Middle Tennessee State, both Monica Mack ('05) and Becky Peters ('12) at George Washington, and former teammate Hannah Missry ('17).
 
Holden currently leads all of Division I with 38.65 minutes played per game and is second overall with 889 total minutes on the year. Bre Cavanaugh, who finished her freshman season with the second-most minutes played in a single campaign (1,304) is seventh and third, respectively, with 37.8 minutes per game and 870 total.
 
This Is Our House
Since Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold an 94-30 (75.8%) record at home across 124 contests. Over the last two-plus seasons, the Rams are 37-9 in the Bronx, including a 15-5 mark in conference play and two Holiday Classic crowns. Last year, Fordham finished 15-3 at home overall and 6-2 in league action. On the flip side, Gaitley's Rams are 65-64 (50.4%) on the road or on neutral ground during her tenure.
 
60 is the Magic Number?
Fordham is 41-4 over its last two-plus seasons when scoring 60 points or more, including a 16-3 mark a year ago and 10-1 record this season. After scoring at or under 55 points across the first six contests last season, the Rams rattled off 21 games with at least 60 points over their final 28 games. The loss at Pittsburgh earlier this year was the first while scoring over 60 since a double-overtime loss at Saint Louis last January 31st.
 
Defense, Defense, Defense
No stat better represents the Gaitley-infused defense than Fordham's 63-6 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. This year, the Rams have wins against Columbia, Iona, Middle Tennesseee State, George Washington, Richmond, Rhode Island, and Duquesne in such instances.
 
Cavanaugh Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week for a Third Time
The redshirt sophomore picked up her third A-10 Player of the Week award three weeks ago after averaging 19.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.0 steals across 38.5 minutes of two wins last week, against Richmond and at Saint Louis. She was also named the National Jesuit Women's Player of the Week for the first time, as well. She was a four-time Rookie of the Week winner last year. Click here to read more.
 
Three Sign Their NLIs
Coach Gaitley and the program announced three future additions to the team as Anna DeWolfe, Eden Johnson, and Sarah Karpell signed their National Letters of Intent. To read more about the newest Rams, click here.
 
Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll Results
For the second year in a row the Rams have themselves a preseason First Team All-Conference honoree. Last year it was senior G'mrice Davis but this year it is redshirt sophomore Bre Cavanaugh, who finished up a sensational rookie campaign with Second Team and All-Rookie distinction plus being named the MBWA's Metropolitan Rookie of the Year. The team, meanwhile, was predicted to finish in a tie for third place, alongside reigning conference champions, George Washington, in what is the highest the Rams have ever been in the annual poll under Coach Gaitley. Click here to read more.
 
Career Milestone Watch
- Bre Cavanaugh is 44 points away from 1,000
- Bre Cavanaugh is 14 three-pointers away from 125
- Bre Cavanaugh is 33 free throws away from 250
- Bre Cavanaugh is 35 assists away from 150
- Mary Goulding is 11 three-pointers away from 50
- Mary Goulding is 29 rebounds away from 450
- Mary Goulding is one assist away from 150
- Kendell Heremaia is nine assists away from 100
- Kendell Heremaia is nine rebounds away from 200
- Kendell Heremaia is 17 steals away from 50
- Lauren Holden is 44 points away from 1,100
- Lauren Holden is 44 assists away from 300
- Lauren Holden is five three-pointers away from 200
- Lauren Holden is four appearances away from 125
- Zara Jillings is 11 assists away from 100
- Zara Jillings is three rebounds away from 150
 
Up Next
Fordham wraps up its three-game homestand against George Mason this Sunday at 2 p.m.