Women's Basketball at Davidson Wednesday

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Game Notes
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham women's basketball team (9-5, 1-0) opened up Atlantic 10 play with a 26-point win over St. Bonaventure on Saturday and will now carry a nine-game overall win streak into Wednesday's road contest at Davidson (8-6, 1-0). Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. from Belk Arena. ESPN+ and WFUV 90.7 FM will carry live coverage.
 
Last Time Out
Fordham scored a season-high 79 points on Saturday against St. Bonaventure in the conference opener thanks to a season-high 29 points from Bre Cavanaugh and an explosive 27-8 third quarter that propelled the Rams to a 26-point victory. Both teams were shooting just under 52% from the field in the first half and the Bonnies cut the deficit to two early in the third period, but the Rams turned on the jets from that point on, going on an extended 24-2 run over the final eight minutes of the quarter, hitting 10-of-12 overall and all four three-point attempts. The lead grew as large as 30 before settling at 26.
 
Cavanaugh led the way with 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-6 from three-point range. Kendell Heremaia double-doubled again with 16 points, on 7-of-14 shooting, with 11 rebounds and team-highs of five assists, two steals, and a block over 29 minutes. Anna DeWolfe and Kaitlyn Downey chipped in 13 and 10 points, respectively, while redshirt freshman Chloe Chaffin made her return to the court after a long injury lay-off that lasted more than a year.
 
Series History vs. Davidson
The Rams hold an all-time 8-3 series lead over the Wildcats dating back to the 2014-15 season when the latter joined the Atlantic 10. Fordham has won four of the past five meetings, including the most recent match-up, a 58-42 decision in North Carolina. Davidson had won in the Bronx just three weeks prior to that, 60-56. Each school has won twice at Belk Arena, with Fordham taking the last two each of the past two seasons. In last year's loss, former Rams Mary Goulding and Lauren Holden led the way offensively, while Bre Cavanaugh and Kendell Heremaia struggled with their shots, hitting a combined 5-of-25 attempts. In the win, Cavanaugh scored a game-high 15 points, while Kaitlyn Downey chipped in 12 points.
 
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 last weekend, while Cavanaugh garnered her second award of the season and the sixth of her career by averaging 24.0 points with no turnovers over two wins this past week.
 
Striking the Right Balance
Fordham is seeing plenty of production spread around the members of its rotation. Cavanaugh is unsurprisingly leading the charge in scoring in eight games, but Heremaia (five), DeWolfe (once), and Downey (once) have also stepped up to lead the offense. Four different Rams have led the team in rebounding, six have led the team in assists, eight have had at least one game with a share of or the team-high in steals, and seven have led the way in blocks at least once, as well. Five different players have scored in double figures, with Cavanaugh, DeWolfe, Downey, and Heremaia doing so at least five times apiece.
 
Busy Bre
Bre Cavanaugh has started all 82 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 has already entered the all-time top-10 in scoring, amassing 1,406 career points, up to eighth all-time. The Allamuchy, N.J. native has racked up 3,135 career minutes thus far out of a possible 3,310 (94.7%), finishing each of the last two seasons within the top-10 in that category nationally and ninth this year. She's already moved into the top-10 for three-pointers, now sixth with 172, is fifth with 318 free throws, and is fourth all-time with a 17.1 point-per-game average. She has been held to single digit scoring just nine times in her career and has 32 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-20 in total attempts and makes. The Rams have taken the 15th-most attempts (372), have made the 13th-most (127), and are 13th with an average of 9.1 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 Hannah Missry hit eight against Delaware State in December 2015. 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 hit the most threes with one fewer game played and are averaging a full make per game more than La Salle (8.1).
 
This is Our House
Since Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold a 105-31 (77.2%) record at home across 136 contests. Over the last three seasons, the Rams are 47-11 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.
 
Defense, Defense, Defense
No stat better represents the Gaitley-infused defense than Fordham's 71-6 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. A new streak began soon after with a 56-38 win at Rhode Island, which has now reached 10 games with the win over Samford.
 
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. Mary finished her season strong and moved on to Sweden, 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.
 
Up Next
Atlantic 10 play continues at home against George Washington this Sunday at 2 p.m. It'll be the first nationally televised contest of the year with CBS Sports Network carrying coverage along with WFUV 90.7 FM.