Newport News, Va. – Fresh off helping the Fordham women's basketball team to its first-ever conference regular season championship, senior
Mary Goulding has been named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week, her third of the season, the league office announced on Monday afternoon.
"Mary is really peaking at the right time," Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "She brings it every practice and carries it over to every game."
The Rams picked up their eighth and ninth straight wins over the last seven days, defeating Dayton at home, 57-48, and besting Saint Joseph's on the road, 51-41, in the regular season finale. Goulding was integral to both victories, and the team's program-record 13 league wins, by averaging 20.0 points and 12.5 rebounds, while shooting 58.3% overall from the floor, 66.7% from behind the arc, and 88.9% from the charity stripe.
Goulding and Fordham got revenge for an earlier loss at Dayton by downing the Flyers last Wednesday night at the Rose Hill Gym. The senior forward went off for a career-high 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting with a career-best four three-pointers, and 6-of-7 makes from the line. Goulding added 12 rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals over 38 minutes. At Saint Joseph's on Saturday, Goulding took over down the stretch to surge past the Hawks, scoring 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter. Goulding shot 7-of-10 from the field and hauled in 13 rebounds, adding an assist and a block, over 40 minutes.
At the end of conference play, Goulding finished with averages of 13.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, and a team-high 50 assists and 24 steals, while shooting 48.3% from the floor and 38.2% from deep, across 37.3 minutes in all 16 starts. During the team's nine-game win streak, the Rangiora, New Zealand native is averaging a double-double of 15.2 points and 10.1 rebounds, plus 32 assists and 17 steals, while shooting 51.0% overall and 40.0% from long range.
The second-seeded Rams await the result of tomorrow's George Mason and Massachusetts contest to determine their opponent on Friday at 4:30 p.m. in Pittsburgh.
