Women's Basketball Falls to UMass in Atlantic 10 Championship Quarterfinal

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Wilmington, Del. – Fordham women's basketball fell, 66-63, in a tense back-and-forth match-up with #3 UMass in the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinal on Friday night. The Rams finish conference action with an 18-10 record overall and now await word on a postseason berth.
 
The Rams were scorching hot to begin the contest, leading 30-23 at halftime, thanks to a combined 26 points from Kaitlyn Downey and Asiah Dingle on a combined 9-of-12 shooting, 5-of-5 from behind the arc. Downey was a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor with a team-high six boards, while Dingle had a team-high three assists.

The third quarter was an offensive affair with UMass taking a slim 23-20 lead in the period while shooting 72.7% from the floor and 7-of-8 from the line. Fordham was keeping pace, though, with 53.3% overall shooting and 3-of-6 from distance, but just 1-of-4 from the line. Downey led the way with three more field goals, including 2-of-2 shooting from distance. Sam Breen poured in 12 tough points in the final frame to help her team to 20 overall points on 58.3% shooting, while the Rams struggled with their shots, hitting 19.0% in that frame on nine extra attempts due in part to eight combined rebounds from Dingle and Megan Jonassen, the latter grabbing eight offensive boards alone in the second half, five in the fourth. Dingle hit a late three to cut the deficit to one, 64-63, and after a pair of free throws, had a last look for Fordham but the attempt was just off.
 
Downey matched her career-high of 24 points, shooting 9-of-15 overall and 5-of-9 from downtown, with seven rebounds over 34 minutes. Dingle scored 23 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including two more threes than her previous season-high of two, with seven boards, four assists, and a steal across all 40 minutes. Anna DeWolfe added eight points and Kendell Heremaia chipped in six to go with five boards, four assists, a block, and a steal. Jonassen had nine rebounds by game's end, all offensive, adding a steal.
 
Fordham finished shooting 39.7% overall and 37.5% from behind the arc, while UMass shot 48.0% and 30.8%, respectively. Fordham won the rebounding battle, 35-28, with a whopping 16 offensive rebounds to the Minutewomen's seven. Fordham had just one more turnover, 14-13, but it amount to 16 points for UMass while the Rams scored just three.
 
The Rams await word on what would be an eighth postseason berth in the last 11 years, including one that would've happened had COVID-19 not cancelled the rest of the 2019-20 season.