Amherst, Mass. – Despite
Kendell Heremaia's record-setting performance, the Fordham women's basketball team fell at Massachusetts, 60-57, on Wednesday night. With the loss, the Rams move forward with a 16-7 record overall and 7-4 in Atlantic 10 action, while the Minutewomen improve to 21-5 and 9-3, respectively.
"Tough road loss, the kids played hard." Head coach
Stephanie Gaitley said, "Hard to win on the road when you shoot 2-21 in the 4
th quarter. These games will get us ready for the tournament!"
Though she missed her first attempt, Heremaia was absolutely on fire after that, hitting five straight three-pointers in the first quarter to help Fordham out to a 22-10 lead and getting the visitors within one and two points down the stretch of the game with her record-setting 10
th and 11
th threes. Heremaia ultimately finished with a career-high 35 points on 11-of-19 shooting from distance and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line, adding a team-high 11 rebounds and three steals over 37 minutes. Denise Hammersley had long held the single-game three-point record with nine, set in January 1994 at Lafayette. Heremaia had gotten close earlier this season, with eight at Seton Hall in early November.
The Rams shot 47.1% as a team in the opening frame while holding UMass to just 25.0% shooting. The second period brought a more even battle, which Fordham narrowly won, 14-13, to lead by 13 at halftime, 36-23. The Minutewomen stormed back in the third frame, scoring 20 points on 56.3% shooting, but the visitors still led by eight, 51-43, heading to the final quarter thanks to 46.2% shooting themselves. However, Fordham struggled with just two makes over the final 10 minutes, both Heremaia threes, as UMass took the lead and the game.
Unsurprisingly, Fordham sank the third-most three-pointers in program history, 13, and second-most away from home, with
Anna DeWolfe hitting the other two, on the eighth-most attempts, 34. DeWolfe finished with 12 points across all 40 minutes, while
Asiah Dingle finished with seven points, six rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal over 35 minutes. Off the bench, freshman
Millie Prior grabbed all four of her rebounds on the offensive glass and adding two points and a steal.
Massachusetts outrebounded the Rams, 51-34, with 18 offensive rebounds, although it led to just 10 second-chance points. UMass committed 15 turnovers to Fordham's 13, but it led to just nine points for the Rams.
Heremaia leapfrogged DeWolfe and Abigail Corning ('14) for 12
th all-time with 1,224 career points and moved up three spots in a tie for third all-time with current assistant coach and former teammate
Lauren Holden ('19) with 213 career triples. Heremaia, now with 139 career appearances, second-most all-time, moved into a tie for fifth with 111 career starts and up to ninth with 3,618 minutes played.
Fordham is back in action on Saturday against Dayton with tip-off set for 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and WFUV.
