Women's Basketball Travels to Duquesne Saturday

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Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham (15-5, 6-2) begins a three-game road swing over the next two weeks, starting at Duquesne (9-12, 4-5) on Saturday, February 5, at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ and WFUV. 
 
WFUV Pregame Zoom
With no fans allowed inside the Rose Hill Gym, WFUV Sports has brought back their fantastic pregame zooms an hour before tip-off to talk all things Fordham women's basketball with fans virtually. Though there is no zoom for tomorrow's game, head on over to WFUV's YouTube page (Click HERE) to see interviews with Maranda Nyborg and Sarah Karpell from weeks past.
 
The Stephanie Gaitley Show
Another season of Coach Gaitley's show began earlier this season and Episode 4 is right around the corner! To watch the previous three episodes, click HERE to go to Fordham Athletics' YouTube page.
 
Last Time Out
Fordham capped a stretch of five games in 10 days with a 62-54 win over St. Bonaventure last Saturday afternoon, finishing with a 4-1 record. Fordham was in control of the contest for much of the first half, leading by four at halftime, but the Bonnies duo of Asianae Johnson and I'yanna Lops, plus five third-quarter Fordham turnovers, led to St. Bonaventure tying the game on several occasions and eventually breaking through to take a pair of leads. The Rams answered nearly every time but Johnson's 10th point of the period led to the visitors' first lead since the opening frame. After several more back-and-forth possessions, Fordham finished the period with two baskets in the final minute to take the lead back for good - Asiah Dingle fighting through traffic in the corner and sinking a three. The defense held the Bonnies to just 4-of-17 shooting in the fourth, while the offense committed just one turnover, to see out the victory.
 
Anna DeWolfe scored 20 points to lead the way while playing all 40 minutes, with Dingle adding 14 points, five rebounds, a game-high three steals, and two assists over 38 inutes. Kaitlyn Downey produced 12 points, a game-high five dimes, four boards, two blocks, and a steal, while Megan Jonassen corralled a season-high 12 rebounds to go with eight points. Read all about it here.
 
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%).
 
Series History with Duquesne
The Dukes hold a 22-10 all-time advantage since the Rams joined the Atlantic 10 in 1996. Duquesne dominated the series for the first two decades, with just five Fordham wins over that timeframe, most notably the A-10 Championship quarterfinals, 45-41, in 2014 en route to the program's first title. Since the 2016-17 season, however, the Rams have won five of the last six meetings, including a 76-34 drubbing in the 2019 A-10 Championship semifinals en route to the program's second title, and the most recent contest - a 54-47 win in Dayton in the 2020 A-10 quarterfinals.
 
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 66.1% of the team's scoring on a combined 41.6% 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).
 
Now a two-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Week this season, DeWolfe leads the league in scoring (20.0 points per game) on 41.6% overall shooting, 32.9% from distance, and 87.8% from the line. She is second on the team with 57 assists and 31 steals, and is currently second in the nation in minutes played (769) and 38.4 minutes per game, and 24th 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. 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.
 
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. Against GW, she became the 11th Ram to reach 700 career rebounds, as well. The New Zealand international has since ascended to 14th all-time with 1,169 career points and 6th with 746 boards, and is also currently seventh all-time with 199 made three-pointers, with Suzanne Maguire ('97) next at 200.
 
Heremaia has also racked up 298 assists and 130 steals over 136 career appearances and 108 starts, the latter two numbers ranking solo 2nd and 5th 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 third-fewest points and third-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 against George Washington in her 94th start. The Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. native is up to 871 career points, an average of 8.4 for her career, and 603 rebounds, a clip of 5.8 per contest. She has been a consistent shooter through her career, hitting 39.4% from the field (312-of-792) with a rate of 33.9% from distance, including a career-best 40.7% this season., which is currently eighth-best in a single season in program history.
 
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 4.3 for her career with a whopping 244 offensive rebounds of 439 total (55.6%). A consistent shooter from the floor, whether its in the paint or a patented long jumper, hitting 45.4% 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 68.9% shooter from the stripe this year and last, including a mark of 70.0% 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 104 straight contests, making 98 starts.
 
Dingle All the Way
The Boston native made her 100th career appearance against St. Bonaventure last Saturday, starting all 20 games for the Rams so far this season. 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 1,298 points at an average of 13.0 per game. She is a 42.2% career shooting with 3.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.0 steals per game.
 
Nationally Speaking (as of 2/3)
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 45th in scoring defense (57.0), 47th in turnovers per game (13.8),  64th in free-throw percentage (.745), 70th in assist/turnover ratio (1.02), and 89th in made three-pointers (131).
 
At the individual level, Anna DeWolfe is 2nd in minutes played per game (38.4) and 8th in total minutes (769), 25th in scoring (20.0), 6th in field-goal attempts (375) and 13th in makes (156), and is 28th with 51 made threes and 38th with 2.6 per game. Asiah Dingle is 83rd with 2.2 steals per game and 55th with 44 total steals.
 
Conference-Only
The Rams are 6-2 in league action so far this year, outscoring opponents 59.8 to 53.5, with three of those wins coming on the road. The Rams are shooting 39.0% overall, 30.8% from deep, and 68.8% from the free-throw line, while holding opponents to 35.6% and 26.9%, respectively. On the glass, Fordham holds a 38.1 to 32.5 advantage and have 110 assists to opponents' 67, while commiting just 103 turnovers.
 
Anna DeWolfe leads with 19.3 points on 38.6% shooting, 28.4% from behind the arc, and 17-of-18 from the stripe with 11 steals and the second-most assists (23). Asiah Dingle leads with 26 assists and 12 steals, and is averaging 14.4 points on 41.7% shooting and 35.3% from deep, while attempting a whopping 44 free-throw attempts, converting on 65.9%. Kaitlyn Downey is shooting 43.8% from deep (14-of-32). Megan Jonassen has 27 offensive boards to 32 defensive and Sarah Karpell has been fantastic recently, grabbing half of her 20 rebounds on the offensive end with 10 assists and terrific defense over 23.5 minutes.
 
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 (244-of-439) has more offensive boards in her career than defensive (55.6%).
 
Through 20 games, Fordham's rebounding totals are below last year's, averaging 35.0 boards per game, but are hitting the offensive glass even harder than a yearo ago, with a whopping 237 offensive rebounds out of 701 total (33.8%). Jonassen unsurprisingly leads the way with 60 o-boards but seven other Rams are also in double figures - Dingle (39), Prior (23), Downey (23), Flood (20), Heremaia (17), Karpell (16), and Nyborg (14) 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.
 
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 begin a three-game road swing with a trip to Duquesne next Saturday, February 5, at 2 p.m.