Women's Basketball at VCU Saturday Afternoon

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Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham (10-4, 1-1) returned to the right column on Wednesday and will seek to start a new win streak on Saturday at VCU (7-6, 2-1). Tip-off is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+ and WFUV.
 
Last Time Out
From the start of the second quarter to late in the third, the Rams outscored George Mason, 44-26, while shooting 19-of-29 from the floor (65.5%) to erase a one-point deficit after the opening frame to lead by double figures for much of the remainder of the contest. The Patriots were able to chip away at the lead after that lengthy run with Fordham hitting just 1-of-14 attempts to close the game, but sinking 13-of-15 free-throw attempts over the final 10 minutes kept the hosts from getting within striking distance.
 
DeWolfe again crossed the 20-point threshold, scoring 22 on 8-of-23 shooting with five assists, two rebounds, and two steals over 40 minutes. Downey fell one board shy of a double-double, scoring an efficient 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, 4-of-8 from distance, with a team-high three steals. Jonassen scored 12 points, her second double-digit effort in three games, with eight rebounds, two dimes, two blocks, and a steal, while Heremaia dished out a season-high seven assists with six boards and four points. Off the bench, Flood hauled in eight rebounds in 16 minutes, while Nyborg and Prior combined for three points, five rebounds, an assist, and a block. Read all about it here.
 
Series History with VCU
The all-time series is tied 5-5 with since the (other) Rams joined the Atlantic 10 in 2013. The series begin in Fordham's favor, with three straight wins, but VCU has taken three of the last four, including the most recent matchup in the 2020 A-10 semifinals, a 60-55 comeback loss.
 
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. All three already have one A-10 Player of the Week award so far this season. Combined, they make up 66.3% of the team's scoring on a combined 42.7% shooting overall. They are the real deal. For context for the uninitiated, this entire blurb is related to Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
 
Hungry Like DeWolfe
The reigning Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year became the 24th Ram to reach 1,000 career points on December 12 against Lafayette, doing so on a patented mid-range jumper, hitting nothing but net. Her season average is back above 20 after becoming just the third Ram to ever finish a season at that number last year, and has now scored 20 or more in seven straight games. At the end of her sophomore campaign, DeWolfe ranked 22nd nationally with 20.8 points per game, one of seven underclassmen in the top-25, and was 25th with 37.3 minutes played and 29th with 2.7 threes per contest. DeWolfe has started 63 consecutive contests in her collegiate career, beginning with her first game against #16 Notre Dame at home in front of a sold out Rose Hill Gym where she nearly triple-doubled (10 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists) in a close five-point loss to the Irish. DeWolfe was a three-time Rookie of the Week and All-Rookie selection that year while leading all freshmen in minutes played (1,152).
 
DeWolfe leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring (21.1 points per game) on 44.1% overall shooting, 37.9% from distance, and 85.7% from the line. She is tied for the team lead with 40 assists and is second with 25 steals. She is 3rd nationally with 38.2 minutes per game and 11th in points per game.
 
Variety Pack
The Rams have had three different Atlantic 10 Players of the Week this season. First it was Asiah Dingle after averaging 26.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.0 steals, and 3.0 assists over wins against Quinnipiac and Seton Hall to kick the season off. The week after it was Kaitlyn Downey 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. Most recently it was Anna DeWolfe, who scored 28 points in back-to-back wins over Stony Brook and Princeton, with 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals. It's only the third time in program history three different Rams have garnered the award and just the second time in the A-10 era - last year DeWolfe, Downey, and Heremaia earned Player of the Week at least once.
 
Kendell Here-oh-my!
Kendell Heremaia became the 23rd Ram to reach 1,000 points for her career, doing so at Seton Hall in the second game of this season, matching her career-high of 29 points and shooting a blistering 8-of-11 from behind the arc, just one off the single-game program record. On Wednesday, she became the 11th Ram to reach 700 career rebounds, as well. The New Zealand international has since ascended to 20th all-time with 1,115 career points and 10th with 704 boards, and is also currently seventh all-time with 188 made three-pointers, with Suzanne Maguire ('97) next at 200.
 
Heremaia has racked up 1,115 points, 704 rebounds, 289 assists, and 125 steals over 130 career appearances and 103 starts, the latter two numbers ranking fifth and 10th all-time. Only six other Rams have reached the 1,000-point, 500-rebound, 200-assist, 100-steal plateaus, 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 and fourth-fewest rebounds and steals, but the second-most assists.
 
The Senior Captains
The two senior captains, Downey's third year and Jonassen's first, have been instrumental to Fordham's success in recent years. Downey, a three-time A-10 Player of the Week and a Third Team All-Conference selection a year ago, has never missed a game in her career, appearing in 98 straight contests with 92 starts. The Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. native is up to 833 career points, an average of 8.5 for her career, and 576 rebounds, a clip of 5.9 per contest, she is a consistent shooter through her career, hitting 39.3% from the field (298-of-759) with a rate of 33.4% from distance, including a career-best 40.0% this season.
 
Jonassen, who has missed just three games in her career, is more known for her rebounding prowess, averaging 4.2 for her career with a whopping 226 offensive rebounds of 396 total (57.1%). A consistent shooter from the floor, whether its in the paint or a patented long jumper, hitting 44.5% of her attempts, she has put in tremendous work in becoming a better free-throw shooter: after making just 30-of-53 over her first two seasons (56.6%), she has been a 71.2% shooter from the stripe this year and last, including a mark of 77.8% this season. She is five appearances from her 100th.
 
Dingle All the Way
The Boston native was a shoe-in for the year's first A-10 Player of the Week award, averaging 26.0 points, 9.5 rebounds, 5.0 steals, and 3.0 assists over 39.5 minutes of two exciting wins to begin the campaign. Through 13 contests, Dingle leads the team in assists and steals, is second in scoring and is third in rebounding. For her career across three schools, she has accumulated 1,197 points, an average of 12.9 per game, across 93 appearances and 76 starts. She is a 42.1% career shooting with 3.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.1 steals per game.
 
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.
 
Through 14 games, Fordham is averaging 34.1 boards per game with a whopping 163 offensive rebounds out of 477 (34.2%). Jonassen unsurprisingly leads the way with 42 o-boards with Asiah Dingle (28), Millie Prior (18), Kaitlyn Downey (17), Matilda Flood (14), and Maranda Nyborg (11) each just behind her, all but Nyborg averaging one per game or better.
 
Gaitley's "Most Challenging" Nonconference Schedule Yet
Fordham women's basketball head coach Stephanie Gaitley called this year's nonconference slate her "most challenging" of any of her teams in her career. It featured five predicted conference favorites (Quinnipiac, Baylor, Stony Brook, Princeton, Florida Gulf Coast), one runner-up (Manhattan), and three third-place finishers (Seton Hall, Michigan State, Houston), plus two NCAA champions (Baylor, Notre Dame), and six programs that received votes in at least one national preseason poll. Fordham had one top-25 win (Princeton) and four top-100 wins (Quinnipiac, Michigan State, Houston, Stony Brook), and finished nonconference 49th in the NET rankings.
 
Nationally Speaking (as of 1/14)
Like last year, stoppages in play lead to falling down the national and conference ranks in many categories, so per-game averages take on an added importance. Among their Division I peers, the Rams are 20th in free-throw percentage (.774), 70th in turnovers per game (14.5), 76th in turnover margin (2.93), and 87th in assist/turnover ratio (1.0).
 
At the individual level, Anna DeWolfe is 3rd in minutes played per game (38.2) and 33rd in total minutes (536), 11th in scoring (21.1), 7th in field-goal attempts (263) and 10th in makes (116), and is 28th with 39 made threes and 33rd with 2.8 per game. Asiah Dingle is 57th with 2.43 steals per game and 54th with 34 total steals.
 
Deeper Dive Into Games Won
Through 10 wins this season, the Rams are outscoring opponents 71.8 to 58.0 (+13.0). Fordham is shooting 44.0% from the floor and 33.8% from distance and converting nearly half of its two-point attempts (49.5%). Fordham is outrebounding foes, 35.3 to 30.3, with 118 offensive boards out of 353 total (33.4%). Opponents are committing 18.2 turnovers per game with the Rams notching 9.1 steals and 3.4 blocks per contest and committing just 14.8 turnovers themselves.
 
Anna DeWolfe is leading the charge with 22.7 points per game on 46.2% shooting overall, 39.7% from deep, and 85.7% from the line, leading the squad with 35 assists. Asiah Dingle is averaging 14.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.8 steals, and 2.8 assists, while Kaitlyn Downey leads with 7.0 boards to go with 10.4 points, Kendell Heremaia chips in 12.6 points and 6.1 boards, and Megan Jonassen hauls in 6.3 boards, as well. With Heremaia shooting 39.8% from the floor, six others averaging 10 or more minutes are shooting 45.0% or better, including two at 50.0% or above (Jonassen, Nyborg).
 
This Is Our House
Since Coach Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold a 127-34 (78.9%) record at home across 161 contests. Over the last four-plus seasons, the Rams are 71-13 in the Rose Hill Gym, including a 34-6 mark in conference play and three straight Holiday Classic crowns. Sunday's loss to La Salle snapped a 12-game win streak.
 
60 is the Magic Number?
Fordham is 78-12 over its last five seasons when scoring 60 points or more, including an 8-3 mark last year and 10-1 record to begin this season. The offense has been clicking so far for the Rams, with seven of their wins coming with 70 or more points.
 
Class of 2026
Head coach Stephanie Gaitley has announced her 2021 recruiting class made up of four future Rams – Kaila Berry, Rose Nelson, Ashley O'Connor, and Faith Pappas. Read all about the incoming class here.
 
Preseason Poll
Fordham was 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.
 
Up Next
The Rams return home to host George Washington on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in their second nationally televised contest – this time on USA network.