Cancun, Mexico – It was a tale of two halves for Fordham women's basketball against two-time national champion Baylor, ranked #6/8 this week, holding the Lady Bears to just 20 first-half points before allowing 48 in the second half to fall, 68-45. With the loss, the Rams drop to 3-2 on the year, while Baylor improves to 5-1.
"It was a game of two halves." Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "In order to knock off a top-10 team, we have to give a 40-minute effort. Great game to learn from as we have to be ready to learn from today and bounce back quickly!"
Fordham struggled to find its shot throughout the contest, though the Rams had several good looks. The Rams led, 24-20, at halftime thanks in part to their stout defense, holding the Bears to just 8-of-27 shooting (29.6%) with no three-pointers on two attempts. Baylor came out strong out of the interval and never let up, posting back-to-back 24-point periods and shooting 54.8% overall from the floor and 46.1% from three-point territory. Fordham shot best in the third quarter, hitting 5-of-12 (41.7%) overall and 50.0% inside the arc, but struggled to a 5-of-17 line in the fourth, finishing the game at 30.4% overall and 27.3% from distance.
Kendell Heremaia finished with a team-high 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting, hitting 3-of-6 long-range attempts, and 3-of-3 from the line, adding six rebounds.
Anna DeWolfe chipped in 10 points with a season-high seven rebounds, plus three assists and two steals, but also committed a season-high eight turnovers across a team-high 36 minutes.
Kaitlyn Downey posted three blocks for the second straight game to go with four points, one rebound, and one steal, while
Megan Jonassen scored six and hauled in four boards.
Asiah Dingle notched four points as did
Matilda Flood, with
Catherine Polisano draining her lone three-point attempt late in the fourth off the bench.
Baylor jumped out to an 8-0 lead over the opening five minutes with the Rams committing three turnovers and struggling to settle into the game. Heremaia opened the scoring for her team with an unassisted trey that started a 24-12 run over the remainder of the first half. Following a Caitlin Bickle make, Heremaia was fouled behind the arc and sank all three freebies. A DeWolfe triple cut the deficit to one but the Bears finished with two free throws on separate trips to the line to lead by three at the break.
It was Heremaia again with a clutch basket, drilling a three to tie the game up at 14. Next it was DeWolfe, canning a three to give the Rams their first lead of the game, 17-16, with 6:50 to go. The Lady Bears retook the lead on a strip of DeWolfe following a defensive board and a lay-in but it didn't last long. Out of the media timeout, Heremaia hit her third three of the half to give Fordham a two-point lead and two minutes later,
Megan Jonassen sank both free throws after being fouled grabbing an offensive rebound. After two scoreless minutes, Heremaia drove for a lay-up to make a six-point game, Fordham's largest lead of the game, but the Bears were able to get cut into it once before the whistle when Na'Lyssa Smith laid-in a teammate's miss.
With a pair of free throws and a Sarah Andrews three, the Bears took back the lead briefly before a Jonassen baseline mid-range swung it back in Fordham's favor. Moments later, a Jordan Lewis layup pushed Baylor ahead for good.
The Rams move on to Houston, who received votes in the WBCA preseason coaches poll, on Friday at 1:30 p.m.
