Women's Basketball at Davidson, Dayton this Weekend

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Sunday: Watch | Listen | Live Stats
Game Notes
Twitter Updates at @FordhamWBB
 
Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham (12-4, 3-1) picked up its third straight league win on Wednesday night over George Washington and now return to the road for two games in under 48 hours - first at Davidson (11-4, 2-1) on Friday night at 7 p.m. and then at Dayton (13-3, 4-0) on Sunday at noon on ESPNU. WFUV will have both contests, as always.
 
Last Time Out
visitors to preserve an eight-point win, 61-53. George Washington was hot early, making shots on three of its first four possessions, the latter making it a 9-7 game after the Rams responded to the first three makes. With the game tied at 14-14, Anna DeWolfe drilled a three late in the opening quarter, which proved to be the go-ahead bucket. That make started a 14-0 run for the Rams, prompting a GW timeout, which helped the Colonials regroup and battle back to within four at halftime. George Washington would get within two on several occasions in the second half but Fordham always had an answer, eventually seeing out the game late at the line.
 
DeWolfe, held to just seven points at VCU, went off for a game-high 21 on 8-of-21 shooting with four assists, three boards, and a steal in all but three seconds of the contest. Asiah Dingle added 15 points, four dimes, three rebounds, and a steal, while Kendell Heremaia chipped in 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from distance. The starting forward duo of Kaitlyn Downey and Megan Jonassen combined for 13 boards, four offensive, with eight points. Downey added four dimes and a block. Fordham assisted on 17-of-23 field goals in the game and shot 43.4% overall and 40.0% from deep. Read all about it here.
 
Series History with Davidson
Since the Wildcats joined the Atlantic 10 in 2014-15, Fordham holds a 10-5 lead in their rivalry. Davidson is 3-4 on its home court while the Rams are 6-2 in the Bronx. Most recently, Fordham won, 73-55, on the road last January. The Rams outscored the hosts, 40-21, over the middle periods and were led by an explosive 27 points from Anna DeWolfe, plus a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double by Kendell Heremaia, who also added four assists and three steals, both team-highs.
 
Series History with Dayton
The Flyers hold a 25-8 all-time advantage over the Rams since the latter joined the Atlantic 10 in 1996. Half of those Fordham wins have come under Coach Gaitley, including the most recent meeting, a 50-38 slugfest in the Bronx two February's ago. The Rams are just 1-13 in UD Arena with the one victory coming when the Flyers hosted them in the 1997 A-10 tournament opening round, a 68-65 victory. In fact, Fordham has just four regular season wins over its rival, both in the last three years. The Rams' biggest victory over the Flyers came in the 2014 Atlantic 10 Championship game, a 63-51 win to secure their first A-10 title.
 
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 66.2% of the team's scoring on a combined 42.6% 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 (20.2 points per game) on 42.5% overall shooting, 35.2% from distance, and 86.7% from the line. She is second on the team with 45 assists and 28 steals, and is 2nd nationally with 38.2 minutes per game and 20th 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. Last Wednesday, she became the 11th Ram to reach 700 career rebounds, as well. The New Zealand international has since ascended to 18th all-time with 1,140 career points and 7th with 721 boards, and is also currently seventh all-time with 193 made three-pointers, with Suzanne Maguire ('97) next at 200.
 
Heremaia has racked up 1,140 points, 721 rebounds, 293 assists, and 126 steals over 132 career appearances and 105 starts, the latter two numbers ranking T-2nd and 9th 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, making her 100th straight appearance on Wednesday night in her 94th start. The Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. native is up to 846 career points, an average of 8.5 for her career, and 584 rebounds, a clip of 5.8 per contest. She has been a consistent shooter through her career, hitting 39.5% from the field (303-of-768) with a rate of 33.5% 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 230 offensive rebounds of 408 total (56.4%). A consistent shooter from the floor, whether its in the paint or a patented long jumper, hitting 45.0% 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 three 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 16 contests, Dingle leads the team in assists and steals, is second in scoring and is fourth in rebounding. For her career across three schools, she has accumulated 1,245 points, an average of 13.0 per game, across 96 appearances and 79 starts. She is a 42.4% career shooting with 3.6 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.0 steals per game.
 
Nationally Speaking (as of 1/20)
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 30th in free-throw percentage (.767), 58th in turnovers per game (14.1), 71st in assist/turnover ratio (1.02), and 93rd in turnover margin (2.31). The defense has stepped up recently, too, and moved up to 91st in points allowed per game (59.3).
 
At the individual level, Anna DeWolfe is 2nd in minutes played per game (38.2) and 16th in total minutes (612), 20th in scoring (20.1), 5th in field-goal attempts (299) and 9th in makes (127), and is 28th with 43 made threes and 35th with 2.7 per game. Asiah Dingle is 100th with 2.19 steals per game and 66th with 35 total steals.
 
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 (228-of-403) has more offensive boards in her career than defensive (56.4%).
 
Through 16 games, Fordham is averaging 34.1 boards per game with a whopping 186 offensive rebounds out of 546 (34.1%). Jonassen unsurprisingly leads the way with 46 o-boards but six other Rams are already in double figures - Dingle (32), Prior (20), Downey (19), Flood (16), Heremaia (12), and Nyborg (11) each just behind her, all but the latter two 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.
 
Deeper Dive Into Games Won
In 12 wins this season, the Rams are outscoring opponents 69.4 to 56.8 (+12.7). Fordham is shooting 43.9% from the floor and 33.5% from distance and converting nearly half of its two-point attempts (49.6%). Fordham is outrebounding foes, 35.2 to 30.8, with 141 offensive boards out of 422 total (33.4%). Opponents are committing 16.8 turnovers per game with the Rams notching 8.3 steals and 3.3 blocks per contest and committing just 14.3 turnovers themselves.
 
Anna DeWolfe is leading the charge with 21.3 points per game on 43.7% shooting overall, 35.9% from deep, and 87.0% from the line, leading the squad with 40 assists, one of four Rams with 34+ assists. Asiah Dingle is averaging 15.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.4 steals. Three Rams are averaging between six and seven rebounds per game - Kaitlyn Downey and Kendell Heremaia each with 6.5 and Megan Jonassen with 6.3. Heremaia adds 12.5 points and 3.2 assists, Downey 9.8 points and 3.1 assists, plus 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks, and Jonassen is shooting a team-high 53.3% on 5.4 points. Outside of Sarah Karpell and Matilda Flood, all seven players averaging 10 minutes or more are shooting over 40% from the floor, 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 128-34 (78.9%) record at home across 162 contests. Over the last four-plus seasons, the Rams are 72-13 in the Rose Hill Gym, including a 34-6 mark in conference play and three straight Holiday Classic crowns. The loss to La Salle snapped a 12-game win streak.
 
60 is the Magic Number?
Fordham is 79-12 over its last five seasons when scoring 60 points or more, including an 8-3 mark last year and 11-1 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 to the Bronx to host Saint Joseph's next Wednesday night at 7 p.m. on SNY and WFUV.