Women's Basketball Returns Home to Host Dayton Saturday

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Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham (16-7, 7-4) returns to the Bronx for its first February home contest to host Dayton (20-4, 11-1) on Saturday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and WFUV.
 
The Stephanie Gaitley Show
Episode 4 has arrived! Click the link to catch WFUV's Dylan Balsamo and Coach Gaitley talk about the team's recent stretch of five games in 10 days, plus an interview with Coach and her son, Coop, and a profile of Kendell Heremaia! To watch the previous three episodes, click HERE to go to Fordham Athletics' YouTube page.
 
Last Time Out
Grad student Kendell Heremaia had a record-setting evening from three-point land, breaking both the program and Atlantic 10 records for three pointers made in a game, with 11, but the Rams fell at UMass, 60-57. Heremaia was scorching hot all game long, scoring 15 points on five threes in the first period and finishing the first half just one shy of her career-high of eight to help Fordham to a 36-23 lead at halftime. The Minutewomen chipped away in the third quarter, winning the period, 20-15, including a very late Sydney Taylor three to get the deficit back to eight heading to the fourth. Fordham struggled mightily with its shot in the fourth, missing 16 consecutive attempts as UMass retook the lead over that time with a 12-0 run. It was Heremaia's heroics again to give the visitors a chance, hitting two late threes to get within one and two points, but the Rams couldn't get over the hump over the final minute.
 
Heremaia finished with a career-high 35 points on 11-of-23 shooting, all makes coming from distance, with 11 rebounds and three steals, all team-highs, over 37 minutes. Anna DeWolfe shot 5-of-22 to finish with 12 points, while Asiah Dingle contributed seven points, six rebounds, three assists, a block, and a steal. UMass grabbed 51 rebounds with 18 coming on the offensive glass. Read all about it here.
 
Series History with Dayton
The Flyers hold a 26-8 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 in the Bronx, a 50-38 slugfest two February's ago. 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 65.0% of the team's scoring on a combined 40.3% 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. DeWolfe leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring (18.9 points per game) on 40.7% overall shooting, 32.0% from distance, and 88.4% from the line. She is second on the team with 68 assists and 35 steals. DeWolfe currently leads the nation with 38.49 minutes per game and is 36th in points per game. She has 13 games this year of 20 or more points, including a stretch of eight in a row earlier this year. She has also made at least one three-pointer in 46 consecutive contests.
 
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 just the third Ram to averaging over 20 points, and was 25th with 37.3 minutes played and 29th with 2.7 threes per contest. DeWolfe has started 71 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).
 
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. Anna DeWolfe has now earned the award twice this year. 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.
 
Record-Setting Performance
Kendell Heremaia missed her first three-point attempt at Massachusetts but was on fire from that point on, hitting five threes in the opening period and seven in the first half alone en route to a program and Atlantic 10 record 11 made threes, finishing with a 35-point, 11-rebound double-double and three steals, to boot. The previous school record was Denise Hammersley's long-standing mark of nine in a game at Lafayette in 1994. The A-10 record was 10, held by both Dayton's Lauren Cannatelli and UMass' Hailey Leidel in 2018 and 2017, respectively. The NCAA record is 14. In the game alone, Heremaia jumped from 6th to T-3rd on the all-time threes list, now tied with current assistant coach and former teammate Lauren Holden, with 213.
 
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 then-career-high of 29 points and shooting a blistering 8-of-11 from behind the arc, now three shy of the program record. Against GW, she became the 11th Ram to reach 700 career rebounds, as well. The New Zealand international has since ascended to 12th all-time with 1,224 career points, 6th with 766 boards, and T-3rd with 213 made three-pointers.
 
Heremaia, now with 303 assists (11th-most), is one of just two Rams to reach 1,000 career points, 700 career rebounds, 300 dimes, and 100 steals - Abigail Corning ('14) did it, as well. Heremaia also has 137 steals over 139 career appearances and 111 starts, the latter two numbers ranking solo 2nd and T-4th all-time.
 
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 against George Washington in her 94th start. The Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. native is up to 880 career points, an average of 8.2 for her career, and 612 rebounds, a clip of 5.7 per contest. She has been a consistent shooter through her career, hitting 38.9% from the field with a rate of 33.2% from distance, including a career-best 36.7% this season.
 
Jonassen, who has missed just three games in her career and made her 100th appearance against Saint Joseph's, is more known for her rebounding prowess, averaging 4.4 for her career with a whopping 249 offensive rebounds of 453 total (55.0%). A consistent shooter from the floor, whether its in the paint or a patented long jumper, hitting 44.6% of her attempts, she has put in tremendous work in becoming a better free-throw shooter: after making just 20-of-53 over her first two seasons (37.7%), she has been a 69.2% shooter from the stripe this year and last, including a mark of 70.8% this season.
 
100 Straight
Kaitlyn Downey made her 100th consecutive appearance to begin her collegiate career in a home win over George Washington on January 19th. She is one of just 14 active players in Division I that have done the same, including Saint Louis' Ciaja Harbison. Downey has now appeared in 107 straight contests, making 101 starts.
 
Dingle All the Way
The Boston native made her 100th career appearance against St. Bonaventure and has started all but one game for the Rams so far this season, up to 85 for her career. The year's first first A-10 Player of the Week after 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, Dingle leads the team in assists and steals, is second in scoring and fourth in rebounding. For her career across three schools, she has accumulated 1,339 points at an average of 13.0 per game. She is a 41.9% career shooting with 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game.
 
Nationally Speaking (as of 2/18)
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 40th in turnovers per game (13.4), 43rd in scoring defense (57.0), 57th in free-throw percentage (.748), 67th in assist/turnover ratio (1.03), and 64th in fouls per game (14.9).
 
At the individual level, Anna DeWolfe is tops in the country in minutes played per game (38.49) and 28th in total minutes (885), 36th in scoring (18.9), 13th in field-goal attempts (418), 32nd in makes (170), and is 53rd with 56 made threes and 49th with 2.4 per game. Asiah Dingle is 90th with 2.17 steals per game and 81st with 50 total steals.
 
Conference-Only
The Rams are 7-4 in league action so far this year, outscoring opponents 57.9 to 54.4, with four of those wins coming on the road. The Rams are shooting 36.9% overall, 29.9 from deep, and 70.5% from the free-throw line, while holding opponents to 37.6% and 27.9%, respectively. On the glass, Fordham holds a 36.6 to 35.2 advantage and have 146 assists to 135 turnovers.
 
Anna DeWolfe leads with 17.2 points on 37.2% shooting, 27.6% from behind the arc, and 19-of-20 from the stripe with 14 steals and a team-high 34 assists. Asiah Dingle leads with 18 steals and has 34 assists, and is averaging 14.2 points on 39.0% shooting and 33.3% from deep, while attempting a whopping 53 free-throw attempts, converting on 67.9%. Kendell Heremaia and Kaitlyn Downey are shooting 33.8% and 34.1%, respectively, from deep. Heremaia and Megan Jonassen each average 6.6 rebounds per contest, with the latter hauling in 32 offensive boards.
 
5 Games in 10 Days
The Rams just wrapped up a 10-day stretch with five games, finishing with a 4-1 record. Fordham defeated George Washington, Saint Joseph's, and St. Bonaventure at home and Davidson on the road, but fell in heartbreaking fashion at Dayton. Over the five games, Fordham outscored opponents 57.8 to 49.0 (+8.8) while holding opponents to 34.5% shooting overall and 22.8% from distance. The offense, led by Anna DeWolfe's 19.4 points, recorded 68 assists to 62 turnovers while shooting 37.8% from the field and 30.9% from behind the arc. On the glass, Fordham outrebounded opponents, 37.4 to 30.4, with 62 offensive rebounds of 187 total (33.2%).
 
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.
 
Through 23 games, Fordham's rebounding totals are below last year's, averaging 34.7 boards per game, but are hitting the offensive glass even harder than a year ago, with a whopping 274 out of 799 total (34.3%). Jonassen unsurprisingly leads the way with 65 o-boards but seven other Rams are also in double figures - Dingle (44), Prior (30), Downey (28), Flood (23), Heremaia (19), Karpell (19), and Nyborg (15) each just behind her, all but the latter three 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.
 
This Is Our House
Since Coach Gaitley took over before the 2011-12 season, the Rams hold a 130-33 (79.8%) record at home across 163 contests. Over the last four-plus seasons, the Rams are 74-13 in the Rose Hill Gym, including a 35-7 mark in conference play and three straight Holiday Classic crowns. The loss to La Salle snapped a 12-game win streak, but Fordham now has two straight since.
 
60 is the Magic Number?
Fordham is 81-12 over its last five seasons when scoring 60 points or more, including an 8-3 mark last year and 13-1 record 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
Fordham head to Richmond for the final road game of the regular season. Tip-off on Wednesday, February 23, is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+ and WFUV.