Women's Basketball Hosts Saint Joseph's and La Salle this Weekend

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Rams (10-3, 7-2) is seeking their longest win streak of the season, five, if they defeat Saint Joseph's (5-5, 3-5) on Friday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. and will be broadcast nationally by NBC Sports Network and WFUV.
 
50^th Anniversary
This campaign is the 50^th varsity season for the Fordham women's basketball program and Fordham Athletics will be celebrating all five decades throughout the year! See this release for more information. To mark this historic year and to support the program going forward, please consider making a donation today! Our goal is to reach 237 donors to celebrate the number of women who have donned the maroon & white!
 
Also check out the influential 1970's All-Decade Team, the high-scoring 1980's All-Decade Team and the recently announced 1990's All-Decade Team, which made it to four straight Patriot League title games, winning two.
 
Fordham WBB Virtual Gameday Experience
With the unfortunate reality that our RAMily won't be allowed to be there live in the Rose Hill Gym or supporting us on the road for the foreseeable future, Fordham Athletics is proud to announce virtual gameday experiences for select contests, home and away! Read all about it and register HERE.
 
We have had a big turnout for our first four Virtual Gamedays (with the team winning all four games, too!) and our fifth and sixth will be this weekend! Make sure to register at the link above to participate!
 
Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer
Every year, Fordham women's basketball teams up with the Go4theGoal foundation to raise funds and awareness for kids battling cancer in our communities. The Rams do this by wearing yellow laces for their game against Saint Joseph's on February 12^th, although several girls wear the laces for more than one game each year. All funds raised will be used to improve the lives of kids battling cancer by providing financial assistance, funding innovative research, developing and implementing unique hospital programs, and granting personal wishes. Fans can support a great cause and make donations at this link.
 
Play4Kay
Every year in February, women's basketball teams across the country don pink to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research and to celebrate those who survive with or have lost their lives to the disease. Fordham will wear pink uniforms for every home contest this month. Please consider making a donation to help those in need.
 
Senior Day
Sunday is our annual Senior Day tradition. Unfortunately without fans, friends, and family in attendance, it will be a strange one, but there will be a live zoom following the pregame Virtual Gameday event for those interested in watching live. Senior players Ralene Kwiatkowski, Katie McLoughlin, and Lauren Murphy will be honored pregame along with senior managers Riley Poduje and Nick Silacci and three scout squad members!
 
Last Time Out
Fordham trailed for most of last Sunday's crucial league contest with Rhode Island and eventually rallied to pick up a fourth straight win, Coach Gaitley's 200^th in charge of the program. Read all about it HERE.
 
Series History vs. Saint Joseph's
Saint Joseph's holds a 38-12 all-time advantage in the series long history, beginning in 1972. The Rams picked up just one win in the first 20 match-ups, a 74-65 decision in 1996, the second meeting after joining the Atlantic 10 and second meeting in five days at the time. Coach Gaitley, then the head coach of the Hawks from 1991-2001, held a 12-1 record against Fordham during her tenure. Recently, Fordham has turned things around, winning eight of the past 12 contests, including three straight. Last year, the two schools met twice in the Bronx over a four-day period, in the regular season finale and in the first round of the A-10 Championship, 22-point and 23-point victories for the Rams, respectively.
 
Series History vs. La Salle
La Salle holds a 33-16 all-time series advantage since 1984 when the two schools were in the MAAC together. This will be the 50^th meeting between the two long-time rivals. The Explorers won the first 14 games until a 73-65 home win in 1990. Fordham fell, 58-50, in the lone nonconference meeting, in 1994 at that year's Harvard Invitational before the Atlantic 10 era began in 1996. Since Coach Gaitley took over the program in 2011, the Rams have won eight of 10 contests, including eight straight, including last year's 62-45 home win on February 1, 2020.
 
Three's Company
For the first time in the Atlantic 10 era, the Rams have had three different players named the conference player of the week - Downey and Heremaia each twice and DeWolfe once. During the 1991-92 season in the Patriot League, the Rams had four different players earn Player of the Week: Nicole Williams (twice), Christie Kennedy, Kelly Roche, and Sue Moser.
 
Hungry Like DeWolfe
Sophomore captain Anna DeWolfe is 12th in all of Division I in scoring with 22.8 points per game, one of four underclassmen inside the top-15. The Cumberland, Maine native has recorded games of 20 or more points 10 times, including a career-high 34 points against Hofstra, crossing the 700-point threshold for her career against Rhode Island on Sunday. She continues to impress for the Rams ever since her collegiate debut - nearly triple-doubling against #16 Notre Dame in last year's season opener (10 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists) in front of a record sold out Rose Hill Gym.
 
DeWolfe is shooting 44.3% from the floor and 39.4% from deep and leads the team with 41 assists and 19 steals. A three-time A-10 Rookie of the Week honoree and a member of the All-Rookie team, she was named to the preseason Third Team this Fall by the league's coaches. DeWolfe led all freshmen nationally last year with 1,152 minutes played, ranked 13th overall, and is above that this year, 4th among her peers this year with 38.3 minutes per contest.
 
Chairwomen of the Boards
Fordham has been beastly on the boards this year, averaging 39.2 per contest and with the 15th-highest rebounding margin in the country (9.9), holding opponents to just 29.3 boards. The Rams have grabbed 159-of-510 rebounds on the offensive glass, or 31.2%, and have six players with at least 10 offensive boards, led by junior Megan Jonassen's 49 (out of 90 total). She is joined by Kaitlyn Downey (21), Matilda Flood (19), Katie McLoughlin (18), Sarah Karpell (15), and Kendell Heremaia (12). Downey is 23rd in the country with 10.8 rebounds per game and fourth overall with 9.2 defensive boards per game, while Jonassen is 30th with 3.8 o-boards per game. For their careers, Jonassen (162-of-292) and McLoughlin (32-of-58) have more offensive rebounds than defensive.
 
Lucky Number Seven
Senior Kendell Heremaia has racked up 909 points, 590 rebounds, 235 assists, and 105 steals during her Fordham career to-date. That puts her in some illustrious company among Rams that have reached the 800-point, 500-rebound, 200-assist, 100-steal plateaus. Only six others have done it, most recently Samantha Clark ('16), but also featuring Becky Peters ('12) and Abigail Corning ('14) that have played under Coach Gaitley. Among that group, Heremaia has the second-fewest points but the second-most assists and the third-most rebounds already.
 
Kene From Distance
Heremaia is also climbing up the all-time three-point shooting categories at Fordham, entering the all-time top-10 for makes and percentage. Against UMass, the New Zealand international became the 10th Ram to reach 150 career three-pointers, now up to joint-eighth alongside Maureen Garvey ('01) with 159, but recently fell just outside the top-10 with a 34.7% rate from behind the arc. She could potentially join the top-10 for career rebounds, too, as she is 113 away from passing Abigail Corning.
 
Nationally Speaking (as of 2/11)
Per-game statistics take on even more significance this year during the ongoing pandemic. That said, the Rams are 15th in the country in rebounding margin (+9.9), 17th in scoring defense (55.2), 11th in three-point percentage (38.4%), 14th in threes per game (9.2), and 53rd with 119 long-range makes. They are also 25th with just 14.4 fouls committed per game, 69th with a 73.5% free-throw rate, and 89th with 14.6 turnovers per game.
 
At the individual level, DeWolfe's 22.8 points per game ranks 12th in the country. She is 46th in attempts (246), 53rd in makes (109), and 4th in minutes played (38.3). Downey is 4th in the nation with 9.2 defensive rebounds per game and 23rd with 10.8 overall per contest. Megan Jonassen is 30th overall and second in the A-10 with 3.8 offensive rebounds per game, as well.
 
This Is Our House
Since Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold a 119-32 (78.8%) record at home across 151 contests. Over the last four-plus seasons, the Rams are 63-12 in the Rose Hill Gym, including a 31-6 mark in conference play and three straight Holiday Classic crowns. A 15-game win streak ended earlier this season against Davidson but the Rams have rattled off five straight.
 
Heremaia Defends Her A-10 Player of the Week Crown
The Whangarei, New Zealand native picked up her third career weekly honor from the league last week after a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double in another critical match-up with Davidson. Read about her weekend and season here.
 
Downey Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week Again
Downey picked up the second weekly honor of her career on Monday after posting a massive 24-point, 13-rebound double-double with five assists and a steal over 35 minutes at Saint Louis on Sunday. Earlier in the year, the junior captain was the season's first award winner after a 16-point, 20-rebound double-double at Stony Brook. The 20 boards were tied for the seventh-most in a road or neutral contest and joint-11th in any game, while she became just the seventh Ram to ever reach 20 rebounds in a game.
 
DeWolfe Named Atlantic 10 Player of the Week
Anna DeWolfe was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week during halftime of the Davidson game, the first time she's won the honor in her career. She earned it by scoring a career-high 34 points against Hofstra on December 18. She was also named this season's first Metropolitan Player of the Week on January 12^th after scoring 48 combined points at Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
 
Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll
The Rams were predicted to finish in a tie for fourth in the annual A-10 preseason coaches poll. On the individual side, senior Kendell Heremaia was predicted to improve from last year's Third Team All-Conference selection to this year's Second Team, while sophomore captain Anna DeWolfe was viewed the same way, but from the All-Rookie team to the Third Team.
 
Class of 2025
Head coach Stephanie Gaitley announced her four-player 2021 recruiting class last month, saying "we are super excited about this class… we really believe this group could leave a special mark on our program." The class is comprised of 5'10 guard Colleen McQuillen (Cresskill, N.J.), 6'2 forward Millie Prior (New South Wales, Australia), 5'9 guard Sophia Sabino (Rumson, N.J.), and 5'10 guard Lexie Tarul (Bronx, N.Y.).
 
Up Next
Fordham finishes out the road portion of its regular season schedule with contests next Thursday and Saturday at George Mason and George Washington. Tip-off, respectively, is set for 6 p.m. and 12 p.m.