St. Louis, Mo. – The Fordham women's basketball team overcame a sluggish start to match its season-high in points in Sunday's 72-63 win at Saint Louis, also knocking down the third-most three-pointers in school history. With the win, the Rams improve to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Billikens, who missed more than a month of action due to COVID-19, fall to 2-1 and 0-1, respectively.
"Super proud of our team's resiliency in the face of adversity," Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "We have worked hard to stay together and focus on the positives and I'm so happy for them that their hard work paid off!"
The Rams began Sunday's contest scoring five points on 2-of-18 shooting in the opening quarter, though were down just eight thanks to holding Saint Louis to four field goals and 30.8% shooting. Shots began to fall for the visitors in the beginning of the second;
Kaitlyn Downey and
Anna DeWolfe each draining a three in the first two minutes, but the Billikens responded each time, eventually running their lead to double figures. Coach Gaitley called a timeout at the six-minute mark following a 7-0 run from the hosts and, less than two minutes later, Saint Louis led, 27-15, following a Ciaja Harbison steal and layup. That is when the lights turned on for the Rams.
An offensive rebound by Downey led to a DeWolfe triple to get the deficit back to single digits.
Kendell Heremaia sank a midrange attempt and DeWolfe turned Natalie McNeal over and ran down for a fastbreak layup of her own, forcing Saint Louis head coach Lisa Stone into using her first timeout with the lead at five, 27-22, and 3:10 on the clock. Downey found DeWolfe again for a layup and on the next offensive possession, Heremaia drilled a three after freshman
Matilda Flood fought for an offensive board.
Katie McLoughlin capped the run at 15 unanswered points, and the half, with a three with 36 seconds to go, which proved to be the go-ahead basket for Fordham on the afternoon. The Rams led, 30-27, at the interval.
Myriama Smith Traore sank the second half's first attempt after 11 seconds but Downey answered on the other end with a triple, the first of three in the frame for her and the start of 11 third-quarter points. The two schools traded baskets for the majority of the period until Downey's third triple of the third quarter made it a 10-point game, 47-37, with just under three minutes to play. At that point, the Rams had outscored the Billikens, 32-10, since the midway point in the second.
Saint Louis finished the third with five quick points to get within five and the hosts would get within five again, 50-45, one minute into the fourth, but DeWolfe and Downey continued to exert themselves to keep Saint Louis out of reach. The duo combined for an 8-2 run to balloon the lead to its largest of the game, 60-47, prompted a Saint Louis timeout midway through the quarter. A late Heremaia three and free throws down the stretch helped Fordham coast the rest of the way.
Fordham finished the game outshooting the Billikens, 40.6% to 37.1%, while hitting 13-of-31 three-pointers, tied for the third-most makes in school history and the second-most on the road. For a 10
th straight game, the Rams won the battle on the glass, 42-35, including a 12-10 margin on the offensive end. The Rams also committed a season-low nine turnovers and racked up a season-high 20 assists.
The Rams were led by a combined 64 points from DeWolfe, Downey, and Heremaia. DeWolfe posted a game-high 26 points, her fourth 25-point or better performance this year, on 10-of-19 shooting, adding four rebounds, five assists, and a steal over all 40 minutes. Downey matched her career-high of 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting, including a scorching 6-of-9 from behind the arc, also matching her personal-best, to go with 13 rebounds, five assists, and a steal over 35 minutes. Heremaia finished one rebound shy of her own double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds, while also handing out five dimes and tallying a steal.
Katie McLoughlin added three points and grabbed three of her four boards on the offensive glass, notching two assists and a steal.
Fordham returns to the Rose Hill Gym for two games next weekend. First up is St. Bonaventure on Friday, January 22, at 2 p.m.
