Women's Basketball Hosts Fairfield Wednesday Night

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Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham (4-3) returns to the east coast to host Fairfield (2-3) in November's final contest, on Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. in the first game of a doubleheader with the men's team. ESPN+ and SNY will carry live coverage, as will WFUV.
 
Ramses Challenge
Join the Ramses Challenge, a new philanthropic initiative supporting our student-athletes! Pledge a set amount of money for each three-pointer or steal this year, or make a one-time gift to the program. All proceeds are tax-deductible and go directly to Fordham women's basketball. Read more here. So far, the Rams have 68 made threes and a whopping 70 steals already! Thank you for all your continued support!
 
Last Time Out
Fordham split its two games at the Las Vegas Holiday Classic this past weekend, falling to Washington, 71-62, but rebounding with a 78-65 comeback victory over South Dakota. The Rams struggled with their shot inside the arc against the Huskies and were outrebounded by 13 by the Pac-12 power. The Rams committed just 11 turnovers and hit 11-of-27 three-point attempts, but never trailed by less than eight in the second half. Asiah Dingle led the way with 24 points, hitting 4-of-6 threes, with three assists and two steals, while Anna DeWolfe netted 22 points, hitting 5-of-11 threes.
 
The Rams found themselves down at halftime to South Dakota, 39-35, after the Coyotes finished the first half on  16-4 run. It didn't take them long to retake the lead in the third, starting the second stanza on a 10-3 run with two DeWolfe long-range bombs. DeWolfe continued her hot streak from distance with two more, finishing with 16 points in the period alone, including the go-ahead bucket, and the Rams led by double figures for the final 12 minutes.
 
Fordham matched its 14 three-pointers from the win over Wagner but did so on five fewer attempts, shooting 51.9% from behind the arc, which is just outside the top-10. DeWolfe and Dingle became the first Ram duo in the A-10 era to score 25+ points in the same game, the former matching her career-high of six triples, the latter setting a new best with five.
 
Back-to-Back Players of the Week
Asiah Dingle earned the league's first weekly accolade of the year three weeks ago after helping Fordham begin the year 2-1 while averaging 17.3 points on 46.2% shooting, 6.7 rebounds, a whopping 5.0 steals, including a record 10 thefts against Saint Peter's, 3.3 assists, and 0.7 blocks all over just 27.7 minutes per game. Last week it was Kaitlyn Downey's turn, her third time winning the award, after averaging an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double last week with 3.5 assists, 1.0 blocks, and 1.0 steals. She also became the 25th Ram to reach 1,000 career points, at Princeton.
 
Series History
Fairfield holds a 22-6 all-time series advantage over the Rams since 1974. Fordham hosted seven straight meetings until 1982, with the Stags winning four of them. The Rams joined the MAAC that year and during their time in the conference with Fairfield, the Stags dominated with 14 wins and just two losses. The two schools met four times between 1993 and 1997, with Fordham's lone win coming, 64-61, in 1996. The most recent meeting was the following year at the Fairfield Classic, a 73-72 Stag win.
 
Triple D - DeWolfe, Dingle, Downey
Shut the front door! The Fordham trio have been gnarly, righteous, dynamite, and, perhaps most importantly, the bomb-dot-com. All three earned Atlantic 10 All-Conference honors and had at least one A-10 Player of the Week award last season. Combined, they made up 66.1% of the team's scoring on a combined 40.2% shooting overall. They are the real deal. Through three games so far, those numbers are similar - 65.7% of the scoring on 44.6% shooting. For context for the uninitiated, this entire blurb is related to Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
 
Three 1,000-Point Scorers
With her tough turnaround second-quarter jumper at Princeton, Kaitlyn Downey became the 25th Ram to score 1,000 points in program history. She joins Asiah Dingle (1,577 across three schools and five seasons) and Anna DeWolfe (1,425 - seventh-most in school history). Nationally, the Rams are one of 11 schools with three active student-athletes with 1,000 career points, although they are the only mid-major school. Virginia Tech has four.
 
Asiah and Co. Steal the Show
You thought Asiah Dingle's five steals in the season opener was a handful? She doubled that with a program-record 10 against Saint Peter's, notching her ninth and 10th on consecutive possessions in the third quarter. Her previous best was six, which she'd accomplished several times over her career, including once with Fordham. The previous school record was eight, done five times by four student-athletes, but not since Lauren Fleischer in 2001. Her teammates added 11 thefts against the Peacocks to set a new single-game team record, as well, by three, with 21.
 
Are You Experienced?
Fordham's current starting lineup entered this season with a mammoth 488 career games played,  unofficially the most in the country via asking national Division I SIDs. Behind them at the beginning of the year were Virginia Tech (431), Oklahoma (427), and UT Arlington (402, but 444 including JUCO). Fordham is now up to 523 games played for its starting five with grad transfer Jada Dapaa adding 94 off the bench.
 
Downey Moving Up
The graduate forward became the 25th Ram to reach 1,000 career points at Princeton with a tough turnaround jumper in the paint. She's up to 1,042 now, 24th after passing Carol Elser ('85). Against Wagner she moved into the all-time top-10 for career rebounds, now eighth with 720. She entered the year in 10th for career three-pointers made and is now eighth with 176. She will soon join the top-10 for career appearances (currently 120, 10th being 121), while her 114 career starts are fifth-most.
 
Efficiency
The Rams have started out hot from the field to begin the season, shooting 43.3% as a group and 37.6% from behind the arc. The former number is 95th nationally, the latter 31st. Six Rams averaging over 10 minutes are shooting 40.0% or better from the field, led by Megan Jonassen (57.1%) and Colleen McQuillen (52.4%). From distance, DeWolfe (46.3%) and Dingle (43.8%) have been on fire, the latter even moreso over her previous few games. Jonassen (5-of-10) and McQuillen (7-of-13) have been even better on less shots. The team also has a 1.24 assist/turnover ratio, ranked 31st in the country.
 
Captains +1
Fifth-years Kaitlyn Downey and Megan Jonassen, plus senior Anna DeWolfe, served as team captains last year. They will do so again this year plus new addition Jada Dapaa, who was voted as the fourth captain by her teammates. It's Downey's fourth year as a captain, most in program history after J.J. Radice's three years, DeWolfe's third, and Jonassen's second.
 
Up Next
Fordham remains local for the Battle of the Bronx, this year at Manhattan, on Saturday at 2 p.m.