Cavanaugh Heroics, Defense Lead Women's Basketball to Comeback Win over Davidson

Highlights | Postgame

Bronx, N.Y. – After giving up a season-high 74 points at Belk Arena a month ago, the Fordham women's basketball team held Davidson to a season-low 46 points on Thursday night in a wild come-from-behind 47-46 win in which redshirt junior Bre Cavanaugh took center stage, stealing an inbounds pass, tying the game with free throws, and hitting a game-winning corner three with one second remaining. With the win, their fourth straight, the Rams improve to 16-8 overall and 8-3 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Wildcats fall to 13-11 and 6-5, respectively.
 
"Super proud of our kids for a gutsy win over a tough Davidson team," Head coach Stephanie Gaitley said, "Our defense led the way and Bre made the one three we made count! Great team win – our kids believed the whole time!"
 
Cavanaugh scored 18 of her 20 points in the second half, including five in the final minute. The Allamuchy, N.J. native missed her prior attempt with 39 seconds remaining on a driving layup but made up for it by stealing Ally Welling's inbounds pass in front of the Fordham bench, wrestling the ball away from Chloe Welch while getting fouled. The foul was Davidson's fifth and put Cavanaugh at the line where she calmly hit both free-throw attempts to tie the game at 44-44 with 27 seconds to play. Fast forward to the end of the shot clock on the other end and it was Welling who made up for her turnover with a clutch basket from just above the charity stripe. Coach Gaitley called a timeout and advanced the ball. Sarah Karpell inbounded to Cavanaugh in front of her bench and the redshirt junior hit a stunning turnaround three to go ahead, sending the Rose Hill Gym into a frenzy.
 
Thursday night was the epitome of a slugfest. 12 lead changes, two ties, and neither team shooting above 36.0% from the floor. The Rams shot 40.8% from inside the arc but missed their first 15 three-point attempts on the evening, what would have been a new record for attempts without a make – until Cavanaugh's game-winner.
 
Anna DeWolfe kicked the game off with an unassisted jumper on Fordham's opening possession. After falling behind, 6-2, the Wildcats rallied with five unanswered points to take their first lead. The schools traded baskets before and after a nearly three-minute scoreless period, with the period capped by a Vilisi Tavui layup from Zara Jillings, a Cavanaugh jumper, and a Welling two-pointer with seven seconds left, leaving the hosts up by one, 14-13, after the opening 10 minutes. Defense was prominent in the second frame as the two schools combined for 17 points on 6-of-30 shooting from the field. Fordham mustered just six points as Davidson took a 24-21 halftime lead following a 9-2 run over the final four minutes.
 
The lead grew to its largest of the night, for either team, following a Katie Turner three-pointer with 6:24 to play in the third, putting the Wildcats up nine, 31-22, prompting a Gaitley timeout. Out of the break, Cavanaugh drained a two to start a 6-0 run over the next five minutes with Davidson behind held scoreless on five attempts with two turnovers. Welling stopped the bleeding with a putback layup with just over a minute to play but in the final seconds, Cavanaugh struck with another jumper in the lane to bring the deficit back down to three, 33-30.
 
The fourth quarter saw more offense than the previous two periods combined, with Fordham winning the fourth, 17-13. Downey found Cavanaugh for two on the first possession of the final 10 minutes to get within one and DeWolfe knocked down a baseline jumper to give the hosts their first lead since the second quarter, 34-33. Cameron Tabor broke through with a three a minute later and Adelaide Fuller push Davidson back up four, 38-34. Cavanaugh and Fuller traded buckets and the latter made it three straight makes with her layup at the 5:37 mark. The lead was brought back up to seven, 44-37, with a Welch make under the basket with just under five minutes to play. Kendell Heremaia burst through the defense for a layup in response just moments later leading into the final media timeout. With 3:38 left, Cavanaugh drove, sank a layup, and was fouled, converting the three-point play soon after to get within two, 44-42. Nearly three in-game minutes past without a field goal with the Wildcats committing two turnovers and Fordham missing several attempts. The aforementioned heroics began following a timeout by Davidson head coach Gayle Fulks with 35 seconds remaining, though the team did not advance the ball to their half.
 
Cavanaugh led the way with team-highs of 20 points, nine rebounds, and four steals across all 40 minutes. It was her ninth game in 11 conference contests with 20 or more points. She also scored her 1,600^th career point during the game, finishing with 1,618, and moved up to sixth all-time with 533 career field goals. She was 7-of-15 with three steals in the second half. DeWolfe finished  yet again in double figures, scoring 10 points with four rebounds and two steals while also playing the entire game. Kaitlyn Downey chipped in across the board with six points, eight rebounds, a team-high four assists and one block over 31 minutes. Karpell added two points, two boards, three assists, and a steal across 36 minutes. With Heremaia dealing with foul trouble, Tavui played a career-high 26 minutes, totaling four points and five rebounds.
 
The Rams committed just five turnovers, tied for second-fewest all-time, while scoring 17 points off of 13 Davidson turnovers. The Wildcats won the battle of the glass, though, 40-35, with each team grabbing four on the offensive end. Both teams also handed out 11 assists.
 
Fordham has a quick turnaround with Sunday's contest in Richmond set for 2 p.m. The Rams will then travel out to Saint Louis next Wednesday for the Billikens' Kids Day with an 11 a.m. tip-off. Both games will be on ESPN+ and WFUV 90.7 FM.