Cancun, Mexico – The Fordham women's basketball team bounced back from a tough loss to nationally-ranked Baylor with a 14-point victory over Houston on Friday afternoon. With the win, the Rams improve to 4-2 on the year, while the Cougars fall to 3-3.
"We challenged the kids to put together a 40-minute game and they responded in a big way." Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "Some great individual efforts resulted in a big team win!"
Thought for much of the contest the two teams were locked in a tug-of-war, the Rams ultimately won or were tied in every period against the Cougars. Fordham saw a 13-point lead slip down to five at the end of the third quarter, but the Rams stopped the run and quickly were back to a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
Anna DeWolfe led the way with 18 points, adding two assists and two steals over 39 minutes, while
Asiah Dingle and
Kendell Heremaia both double-doubled, each with 10 rebounds but 15 for the former and 11 for the latter. Heremaia also dished out five assists, as did
Kaitlyn Downey, who finished with eight points, five boards, and a block over 27 minutes.
Megan Jonassen contributed a season-high eight points with seven boards and a pair of dimes, while
Matilda Flood chipped in five points, two rebounds, and an assist over 17 minutes off the pine.
Once again it was Heremaia to get the scoring started. The two schools traded baskets until a Heremaia triple put Fordham up, 9-8, heading into the first media timeout. Out of the break, it was Downey to drill a triple, coming after an offensive rebound by
Sarah Karpell. A 6-0 run put Houston up by two late but DeWolfe converted the old fashioned three-point play to give Fordham a one-point lead heading to the second.
After four minutes of back-and-forth action, the Cougars held a one-point advantage, 20-19. On the next possession, Heremaia drove the lane and hit a tough shot in traffic to put the Rams ahead, which proved to be the go-ahead basket. A five-point lead was brought back to one but Flood came through with a clutch three with just under three minutes to play and one possession later, Flood turned provider for Jonassen's mid-range jumper to make it 30-24. Bria Patterson would respond with a long-range make but DeWolfe found Downey along the baseline with 29 seconds to go and Fordham led 32-27 at the interval.
From the seven-minute mark of the third period to 3:31 mark, the Rams outscored the Cougars, 10-2, to lead by 13, 46-33. Houston, and Tatyana Hill in particular, quickly were able to whittle that back to five with an identical 10-2 run to end the quarter. A pair of missed free throws by Kamryn Jones allowed DeWolfe's three-pointer to make it an eight-point game and DeWolfe's layup off a nice find by Jonassen and then Downey upped the margin into double figures going forward with a 16-point advantage following a Karpell basket being the largest for Fordham.
The Rams' defense held the Cougars to just 32.8% shooting overall and 1-of-16 from behind the arc (6.3%), while converting a season-high 46.4% of their own shots, including 56.4% of their two-point attempts, and 11-of-13 from the line. Fordham outrebounded the Cougars 41-33 but committed 18 turnovers.
The Cougars, predicted to finish third in the AAC, is now the fourth team the Rams have beaten so far this season that were predicted within the top-three of their conference preseason coaches poll, also including Quinnipiac, Seton Hall, and Michigan State.
Fordham wraps up play on Saturday against Arizona State at 11 a.m. from the Hard Rock Riviera Maya Convention Center.
