Bronx, N.Y. – Fordham women's basketball shrugged off its early shooting woes and hunkered down, battling back and outscoring Richmond, 37-16, over the final 12:26 minutes of Wednesday's 68-59 victory, overturning what had been a 12-point deficit. With the win, the Rams improve to 14-7 overall and 6-2 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Spiders fall to 12-7 and 2-4, respectively.
Fordham spent the majority of the first half behind and entered halftime down, 29-24. The Rams saw several solid looks but also saw many chances just miss, shooting 34.3% from the field, 22.2% from distance, over the opening 20 minutes.
After getting within two, 31-29, early in the third, Richmond would steadily build its lead, reaching its apex at 43-31 to cap a 12-2 run. Four free throws from
Jada Dapaa and three points from
Anna DeWolfe got it to a seven-point game, 45-38, heading to the fourth. The two combined on the period's opening possession, DeWolfe feeding Dapaa down low for a basket that was wiped out by an Addie Budnik make on the other end. The next possession kickstarted that aforementioned run as DeWolfe canned a floater in the paint, stripped Grace Townsend of the ball moments later, and knocked down another shot to make it a three-point game.
On the next trip down, an odd play occurred as
Asiah Dingle hit a three-pointer that would have tied the game as Dapaa was being fouled in the paint. With the referees reviewing the play, it became the game's final media timeout and meant the only stoppages for the final eight minutes would come from traditional timeouts. It ultimately didn't matter as Fordham retook the lead for good two possessions later. Dingle tallied a steal on three consecutive Spider possessions, leading to makes by DeWolfe and
Sarah Karpell, the latter putting the hosts ahead, 48-47.
The team, operating in a full-court press, would limit Richmond to 14 fourth-quarter points on 38.5% shooting, 2-of-7 from behind the arc, while the offense scored 30 points on 62.5% shooting, all makes within the arc, and 10-of-12 from the line. The lead never grew beyond five until the final 90 seconds and the margin did get to one on one occasion as Maggie Doogan hit a triple with 2:24 to play to make it a 57-56 game.
DeWolfe finished with a game-high 24 points, shooting 8-of-18 from the field, 7-of-12 from inside the arc, and 7-of-9 from the line to go with four rebounds, four assists, and two steals over 39 minutes. Dingle posted her second career eight-steal game to go with 17 points. Dapaa finished with her second Fordham double-double, scoring 11 with 13 rebounds, while Karpell, with 10 points, and
Kaitlyn Downey, with six points, seven rebounds, two assists, a block, and a steal, rounded out the starting lineup.
Matilda Flood added four boards and one assist, steal, and block in 16 minutes off the bench, while
Rose Nelson tallied a season-high two thefts in 10 minutes.
The offense finished shooting 35.9% from the field but just 3-of-17 from deep, while enjoying its second-most free throws of the year, hitting 19-of-23 from the line. The Rams also won the battle on the glass, 34-33, including an 11-7 margin on the offensive end, and produced their second-most steals of the campaign, 14, with 12 assists to just 11 turnovers.
Fordham next heads to the road for two straight contests, first at Saint Louis this Saturday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN+ and WFUV.
