Women's Basketball Hosts Saint Louis on Thursday Night

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Game Notes
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team (11-6, 3-1) returns home to host Saint Louis (10-8, 2-3) on Thursday night. Tip-off from the Rose Hill Gym is set for 7 p.m. with ESPN+ and WFUV 90.7 FM carrying live coverage, as always.
 
Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer
In what has become a yearly tradition, the Rams wore yellow shoelaces for Sunday's contest to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer research. Though it's over, fans can always continue to contribute. To make a donation, see Fordham's team page. To learn more about Go4TheGoal and its mission, click here. 
 
Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night
Thursday's game is free for all Fordham faculty and staff! There will also be a pregame reception at 5:30 in Dagger John's, with beverages and appetizers.
 
Last Time Out
For a second straight contest, the Rams led wire to wire against a conference opponent. It was George Washington last weekend and on Sunday it was George Mason. Sarah Karpell notched the game's first basket, a reverse layup after an offensive rebound, and that proved to be the difference between the two schools. The Patriots would get within two a few minutes later, 8-6, but the Rams closed the first half on a 18-11 run to lead by nine at the half. Fordham came out of the break on fire, running out to a 19-point lead with a 14-4 run and the offense hitting its first six three-point attempts. The lead was 15 heading into the final 10 minutes, 49-34. The two schools traded free throws with the Patriots taking several more down the stretch, hitting just five field goals in the quarter and one over the final five minutes.
 
Bre Cavanaugh matched her season-high with 29 points on 9-of-20 shooting, 5-of-8 from distance, and a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. Her final basket of the night, a three, was the 480th of her career, tying her with Becky Peters ('12) for 10th-most all-time. Kaitlyn Downey finished in double figures for the fourth straight game, scoring 15 points and adding a team-high seven rebounds and three steals. Kendell Heremaia recorded her sixth game with at least five assists, notching seven, with eight points, five board, a block, and an assist over 30 minutes. Vilisi Tavui came off the bench for a career-high six rebounds, plus four points, over 13 minutes.
 
Series History vs. Saint Louis
The Billikens hold a slim 10-9 all-time advantage since joining the Atlantic 10 in 2005-06. The two schools traded five-game win streaks between 2007 and 2014, Saint Louis then took four straight, and the Rams have since won three of the past four outings. This is the third straight season the two schools will play each other home and away. Fordham won both contests a year ago, 56-53 away and 54-51 at home. Cavanaugh and Downey averaged 15.0 and 14.0 points, respectively, over the two wins, while Heremaia hauled in her career-high 16 rebounds in the first meeting. As a freshman, Cavanaugh scored 20 points in the home win over the Billikens then poured in a career-high 37 points over 48 minutes in the road loss a month later, what would be the season-high among Atlantic 10 players that year and the fourth-most in a single game in Fordham history. Over four contests, Cavanaugh is averaging 19.3 points per game against Saint Louis.
 
Cavanaugh, Heremaia Back-to-Back as A-10 Players of the Week
Kendell Heremaia picked up her first career conference accolade after nearly triple-doubling in the big win over Samford to begin this year's Holiday Classic, while Cavanaugh garnered her second award of the season and the sixth of her career by averaging 24.0 points with no turnovers in two wins two weeks ago.
 
Atlantic 10 Action
The Rams have begun league play with three wins in four and have outscored opponents by eight points while shooting 43.6% from the floor. Bre Cavanaugh is averaging 22.8 points on 49.2% shooting, 48.0% from distance, and 75.0% from the charity stripe. Kendell Heremaia's producing 13.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 2.5 steals per game. Besides Heremaia, who has struggled a bit shooting-wise (36.2% overall and 27.3% from deep), the four other starters are hitting 44.4% or better from the field overall, led by Kaitlyn Downey's even 50.0% clip and Cavanaugh's hot-shooting from distance (12-of-25).
 
Busy Bre
Bre Cavanaugh has started all 85 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 is already close to joinining the all-time top-five in scoring, amassing 1,468 career points, just eight points from Suzanne Maguire ('97) for fifth. The Allamuchy, N.J. native has racked up 3,252 career minutes thus far out of a possible 3,430 (94.8%), finishing each of the last two seasons within the top-10 in that category nationally and doing so again this year. She's already moved into the top-10 for three-pointers, now sixth with 179, is fourth with 329 free throws, and is third all-time with a 17.3 point-per-game average. She has been held to single digit scoring just nine times in her career and has 34 games of 20 or more points.
 
Bombs Away!
After setting a new program record for made three-pointers last year, it's no surprise to see the 2019-20 Rams are one of the voluminous three-point shooting teams in the land, in the top-25 in total attempts and makes. The Rams have taken the 23rd-most attempts (440), have made the 17th-most (149), and are 16th with an average of 8.8 per game. The win at Charlotte was a masterclass in long-range sniping as the team hit 48.4% of its 31 attempts, with the 15 makes ranking second-most all-time at Fordham and most away from home. Kaitlyn Downey hit 6-of-8 in the contest, the most by a Ram since Bre Cavanaugh hit six at Drexel in the second round of the 2018 WNIT. Against St. Bonaventure, the Rams hit 10-of-14 from distance (71.4%), a fifth straight game with double-digit makes. Among their A-10 rivals, the Rams have made the most threes and are averaging more than a full make per game more than the school with the second-most, La Salle (7.7).
 
National TV Games
With Sunday's win on CBS Sports Network, the Rams improved to 7-1 over the last three seasons when shown on the network. Overall, they are 8-4 over the last three seasons and 10-6 in the last five. These don't include ESPN+, ESPN3, BTN+ or ACC Extra contests.
 
This is Our House
Since Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold a 106-31 (77.4%) record at home across 137 contests. Over the last three seasons, the Rams are 48-11 in the Rose Hill Gym, including a 20-5 mark in conference play and three straight Holiday Classic crowns. Last year, Fordham finished 12-4 at home overall and 6-2 in league action. On the flip side, Gaitley's Rams are 74-69 (51.8%) on the road or on neutral ground during her tenure.
 
Defense, Defense, Defense
No stat better represents the Gaitley-infused defense than Fordham's 72-6 record when holding opponents under 50 points during her tenure. Three 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 last 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 now reached 11 games with the win over George Washington on Sunday.
 
Cavanaugh Named Player of the Week by Three Outlets
Bre earned Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors on December 9 after averaging a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double over two wins last week. On Tuesday, she earned the same distinction from the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association and was named National Jesuit Player of the Week by the AJCU.
 
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.
 
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. Davis is averaging 14.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game with her new team despite their 3-7 record. Mary finished her season strong and moved on to Swedish Damligen, 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. The Knights are 7-10 overall but 4-2 in the Northeast Conference.
 
Up Next
The Rams travel to Dayton this weekend for Sunday's noon tip-off on ESPNU.