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Bronx, N.Y. – The 52
nd Battle of the Bronx between Fordham and Manhattan women's basketball was yet another down-to-the-wire affair with the Rams pulling out a 65-63 victory thanks to a last-second
Kendell Heremaia layup in her 100th career start. With the win, its third straight overall and 10
th straight over its Bronx rivals, Fordham improves to 7-3 on the year, while the Jaspers fall to 4-4.
"It was a great, hard-fought win!" Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "Manhattan played terrific but we had a little luck down the stretch."
The opening 10 minutes was all Manhattan, jumping out to quick 7-0 and 11-3 leads, eventually leading 21-11 at the end of the frame, and by 11 midway through the second quarter, 25-14. Fordham slowly grew back into the game, using a combined 18 points from
Anna DeWolfe and
Asiah Dingle, plus a late free throw by
Maranda Nyborg, to knot the contest up at 33-33 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Fordham used a late 11-2 run to take a five-point lead, 49-44, into the final period. Heremaia hit a three to cut the deficit to one, 42-41, and DeWolfe drilled back-to-back triples, her fifth and sixth of the game, to put the hosts up five. Following a late Jenna Jordan layup, Heremaia hit a pair of freebies with several seconds remaining. Heremaia stepped up again, converting a tough layup to make it a seven-point game and, after a Courtney Warley layup,
Kaitlyn Downey's clutch long-range shot dropped to give Fordham an eight-point cushion, 54-46.
However, Manhattan hit three threes over the next four possessions, the first by Sydney Watkins and the next two by Dee Dee Davis, to quickly retake the lead, 55-54. Davis was unconscious in the final frame, hitting 6-of-7 attempts, including two more right after that after the media timeout to put Manhattan up, 59-54, with 3:19 to play. On the next possession,
Megan Jonassen's crucial offensive board went to Downey behind the arc and the senior coolly converted. The Rams survived a pair of Jasper offensive rebounds on the other end, with Jonassen coming up with the ball and getting fouled. Several moments later, Jonassen herself was alone under the basket following a pretty move and feed by DeWolfe to make it once again a tie game, 59-59.
Davis continued to step up for the visitors, giving her team a two-point lead twice more, once with 1:18 to play and again with half a minute to play. Between, Heremaia and Downey each hit a pair of critical free throws to keep pace. Downey's came after she was fouled hauling in Fordham's 10
th offensive rebound of the evening. Out of Manhattan's timeout, Davis ran down the clock but
Sarah Karpell closed in on her, with the Rams controlling possession with a possible jump ball, and the ball popped out to Heremaia, who sprinted down and calmly provided Fordham with the go-ahead basket with 0.6 on the clock.
DeWolfe and Davis each finished with 27 points. DeWolfe took a career-high 26 shots, tied for third-most in program history, hitting nine, including a career-high six three-pointers, while playing all 40 minutes. The junior captain also netted a team-high five assists and two steals, plus two rebounds. Heremaia finished just one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 16 points, while Downey scored 11 with eight boards. Of Jonassen's seven rebounds, five came on the offensive glass, also providing a steal. Off the bench, Karpell grabbed three rebounds with a pair of steals over 23 minutes, while Nyborg scored a point with two rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal across 14 minutes.
Fordham shot 33.9% from the floor, shooting better from distance in the game (37.5% on 32 attempts), and hitting 11-of-12 from the charity stripe. The Jaspers converted 44.3% overall and 35.0% from deep. Each team grabbed 34 rebounds. Manhattan committed 16 turnovers, while Fordham had 13 but assisted on 15 baskets out of 21 total.
The Rams will look to continue its win streak on Sunday against Lafayette at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and WFUV.
Gallery: (12-9-2021) Women's Basketball vs. Manhattan (12/9/21)
