College Park, Md. – Fordham women's basketball took it to #17/18 Maryland, leading at the end of the third quarter, but ultimately fell to the nationally-ranked Terrapins, 83-76, on Sunday afternoon. With the loss, the Rams fall to 2-1 on the young season.
Fordham never wilted, rebounding from a tough opening frame to outscore the hosts, 22-13, in the second quarter, trailing by just one, 34-33, at halftime. The Rams shot 4-of-17 from the field over the opening 10 minutes while Maryland scored 21. The lead grew to 14 three minutes into the second forcing interim head coach
Candice Green to call a timeout. The break worked, though, as the visitors closed the half on a 20-7 run. On the first possession,
Kaitlyn Downey grabbed an offensive board and assisted on
Anna DeWolfe's three and the next trip down, the senior canned a midrange jumper. Another o-board, this time by
Megan Jonassen, led to another DeWolfe bucket that kickstarted a 9-0 run capped by a
Matilda Flood steal and fastbreak layup, prompting Maryland into using its first timeout. Down five heading into the final minute, a
Jada Dapaa offensive rebound and layup and, later, a
Sarah Karpell layup, closed the scoring for the half.
The Rams went bonkers from behind the arc in the third quarter, hitting 7-of-13 shots from deep, helping them overcome a 15-point deficit during the period. The Terrapins started the second half on a 20-6 run before an
Asiah Dingle floater that led into the media timeout. A minute after the break, DeWolfe knocked down ta three, then it was Flood a minute later, then Dingle, then Downey to cut the lead to three, 56-53, as Maryland called timeout. Shyanne Sellers hit a jumper out of the break but it was Dingle again from distance to cut the deficit to two. On the next Terp possession, Downey was fouled after a rebound, putting her team in the bonus, and the graduate hit her free throws to tie the contest up for the first time. The same situation occurred moments later instead with Brinae Alexander fouling Dingle, who hit the front end of her freebies to give Fordham its first lead of the contest, 59-58. A Sellers free throw with 43 seconds left knotted the game back up and a last-second heave from deep by Diamond Miller put the Terrapins back up, ultimately being the go-ahead basket. Maryland saw out the contest hitting half of its 14 field-goal attempts and 7-of-8 from the line in the final period.
DeWolfe led the way with 24 points on 9-of-20 shooting, hitting 4-of-9 from behind the arc, while Downey fell three assists shy of a triple-double, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists, plus three steals over 31 minutes. Dingle added 16 points, Jonassen grabbed five of her nine boards on the offensive glass, and Dapaa led with 11 rebounds, six coming on the offensive end.
Fordham attempted 80 shots from the field, fourth-most in program history and third in regulation, converting on 33.8% of them, while hitting 12-of-36 from long range, both numbers tied for fourth in a game. The Rams also converted 10-of-11 free throws and grabbed 17 offensive boards of 42 total.
During the game, DeWolfe moved into eighth place all-time for points (1,354) and field goals (530), while Downey inched closer to becoming the 25
th 1,000-point scorer in program history (995).
The Rams remain on the road for another nationally-ranked opponent, this time at #24/25 Princeton on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
