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Bronx, N.Y. – The Rams (3-1) pushed aside RV/RV Michigan State on Sunday in one of the program's biggest wins. Now Fordham sets its sights on the Cancun Challenge over Thanksgiving weekend, taking on #6/8 Baylor (3-1), Houston (2-2), and Arizona State (2-2).
Last Time Out
Trailing by two at halftime, the Rams used a big 17-2 run in second half of the third quarter to lead by 10 by its end, never leading by fewer than four points in the fourth en route to a massive win over Michigan State on Sunday. It was
Kaitlyn Downey and
Asiah Dingle who combined to erase a five-point deficit that forced the Spartans into a timeout with the game tied and it was Downey to put Fordham ahead for good with back-to-back threes out of the break. In the fourth, it was
Anna DeWolfe who continually sank clutch baskets to keep Michigan State at bay, while Dingle and
Kendell Heremaia sank free throws down the stretch to see out the win.
Downey and DeWolfe each finished with 24 points, for the former matching her career-high a third time, while setting a new personal-best with 10 made field goals. DeWolfe hit 11 shots overall. Downey added three blocks, two steals, and six rebounds. Heremaia led the squad with five assists, while
Megan Jonassen led the way on the glass with 10 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive end.
Series Histories
This will be the second-ever meeting between Fordham and all three opponents. The Rams and Baylor met once in February, 1988, and lost by nine, 78-69. Fordham played at Arizona State's holiday tournament in 2001 and fell to the Sun Devils by 24. Houston has been the Rams' most recent opponent, with Fordham prevailing, 63-54, in the final game of the 2019 Fordham Holiday Classic. In that game, the Rams led 36-20 at the half and coasted to a nine-point win. Many current Rams played in that game but among them,
Anna DeWolfe led the way with 17 points.
Two-for-Two
Through two weeks of the 2021-22 season, the Rams already have had two Atlantic 10 Players of the Week. First it was
Asiah Dingle after averaging 26.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.0 steals, and 3.0 assists, while shooting 60.0% from the field and 75.0% from the line over wins against Quinnipiac and Seton Hall. Now it's
Kaitlyn Downey, who earned the honor for a third time in her career, after averaging 19.5 points at Notre Dame and against Michigan State, including a career-high-matching 24 points in the win over the Spartans on Sunday. Downey added 5.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals, and 1.5 blocks, as well.
Triple D - DeWolfe, Dingle, Downey
Shut the front door! So far this season, the Fordham trio have been gnarly, righteous, dynamite, and, perhaps most importantly, the bomb-dot-com. DeWolfe is the reigning A-10 Co-Player of the Year and it's the other two who have won the year's first two A-10 Player of the Week awards. Combined, they make up 69.1% of the team's scoring on a combined 42.5% shooting overall. They are the real deal.
Kene 1k
The New Zealand international struggled with her shot in the season opener, scoring just five points but Heremaia shook that off and then some at Seton Hall, canning her first two three-point attempts and riding that wave all the way through the game, finishing with 29 points to match her career-high while shooting 8-of-11 from distance. Her 1,000th point came in the fourth quarter after hitting two consecutive triples following time off the court due to a mild injury.
Kene From Distance
Heremaia's blistering 8-of-11 long-range performance at Seton Hall was nearly record-setting, finishing in a tie for second-most in a single game with Hannah Missry ('17), however the nine makes have pushed the graduate student into seventh all-time for threes with 179. Suzanne Maguire ('97) is next with 200.
Chairwomen of the Boards
Fordham was beastly on the boards last year, averaging 38.4 per contest and with the 22nd-highest rebounding margin in the country (7.6), holding opponents to just 30.8 boards. The Rams grabbed 213-of-691 rebounds on the offensive glass, or 30.8%, and had six players with at least 17 offensive boards. Downey was 35th in the country with 10.2 rebounds per game and 11th overall with 8.5 defensive boards per game, while Jonassen was 20th with 3.9 o-boards per game. Jonassen (186-of-329) has more offensive boards in her career than defensive.
It's early going in 2021-22, obviously, but through four games, Fordham is averaging 34.5 boards per game with a whopping 57 offensive rebounds out of 138 (41.3%).
Millie Prior has 13 o-boards already, while
Megan Jonassen has 12 and
Asiah Dingle has 11.
Kaitlyn Downey and
Maranda Nyborg each have six. Prior, Jonassen, and Nyborg all have more offensive rebounds than defensive.
Gaitley's "Most Challenging" Nonconference Schedule Yet
Fordham women's basketball head coach
Stephanie Gaitley has called this year's nonconference slate her "most challenging" of any of her teams in her career. The season has begun with a win over the predicted MAAC champions, Quinnipiac, a road win over predicted third place Big East finisher, Seton Hall, and a home win over RV/RV Michigan State, one of six programs either ranked in at least one national preseason poll or receiving votes: Seton Hall and Houston received votes in the coaches poll, Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Florida Gulf Coast received votes in both, and Baylor was #7/8 to begin the year. Notre Dame and Baylor are former multi-time NCAA champions, as well. Not to mention PAC-12 contenders Arizona State, last year's America East champions, Stony Brook, and a Princeton team that, although hasn't played a game in two years, was the most recent Ivy League champions with a 26-1 overall record in 2019-20.
Nationally Speaking
It's early days this season but it's never TOO early to take a look at where Fordham stands among its' Division I peers. Still, the Rams are 50th in turnover margin (5.75) and free-throw percentage (76.7%), 76th in turnovers per game (14.5), and 115th with 9.5 steals per game.
At the individual level, Dingle is 39th in the nation in scoring (19.8), 15th in steals per game (3.8), and 42nd in minutes (35.5). DeWolfe is second in Division I with 39.3 minutes played per game and 23rd in field goal attempts (73). Again, it's early.
Preseason Poll
Fordham has been predicted to finish third in the
annual Atlantic 10 preseason coaches poll, totaling 163 points among the 14 head coaches, just behind Dayton (193) and Rhode Island (174). The Rams return four of their five starters and 91% of their scoring from a year ago, while adding senior transfer
Asiah Dingle and Australian U19 international
Millie Prior.
Anna DeWolfe, the reigning Co-Player of the Year, was selected to the preseason All-Conference First Team, while
Kendell Heremaia was named to the Second Team.
This Is Our House
Since Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold a 122-33 (78.7%) record at home across 155 contests. Over the last four-plus seasons, the Rams are 66-12 in the Rose Hill Gym, including a 34-6 mark in conference play and three straight Holiday Classic crowns. Fordham is currently riding seven straight wins in the Bronx.
3 and D
Stephanie Gaitley's Rams have dominated the all-time top-10 for scoring defense, holding nine of the 10 spots with the 2008-09 squad holding the record with just 47.9 points allowed per game. Fordham was 31st nationally last season with 57.4 points allowed per game. Gaitley's Rams have held opponents under 50 points 91 times in 316 games (28.8%) and hold an 84-7 record in those contests.
Similarly, Gaitley's Rams are all over the top-10 for three-pointers made. In fact, they hold every spot in the top-seven, with the 2018-19 squad breaking the 2013-14 title-winning Rams' record by 23 (267 total). They also set the record for attempts with a whopping 826. Last year's team was on pace to finish sixth, shooting 36.8% as a group before the WNIT, but poor shooting in the final two games dropped them to 11th in program history at 35.0%.
Up Next
The Rams return home to begin a six-game homestand throughout December, first welcoming Stony Brook to Rose Hill on Thursday, December 2, at 7 p.m.
