Olean, N.Y. – Fordham women's basketball rebounded from Saturday's loss in just about the most emphatic way possible, racing past St. Bonaventure in an 85-51 road victory on Wednesday night. With the win, the Rams improve to 15-8 overall and 7-3 in league play, while the Bonnies fall to 4-21 and 1-9, respectively.
Fordham never trailed in the contest and led by as much as 43 points en route to the 34-point result. The offense shot 49.3% from the field, including 54.7% inside the arc, knocking down 37 field goals, tied for third-most all-time in program history, on 75 attempts, tied for sixth, with assists coming on 26 of those, third-most in a single contest. The Rams only committed eight turnovers, too, tied for fifth-fewest. Nine Rams got on the scoresheet and nine tallied at least one assist.
It took 150 seconds for the game's opening basket and it was
Anna DeWolfe in the midrange to put the visitors up for good. On the next trip down the court, two offensive rebounds by
Sarah Karpell, playing in her 100
th career game, led to a
Jada Dapaa layup, and then DeWolfe stripped Maddie Dziezgowski and laid it up and in on the fastbreak, prompting an early St. Bonaventure timeout. Fordham began the game on a 10-0 run, led, 17-5, with three minutes left, and by nine, 21-12, at the end of the period. The Rams recorded an identical 9-of-18 line from the field in the first two frames and held a 40-17 lead at the half.
The offense wasted no time getting started in the third quarter, scoring nine unanswered points over the opening two-plus minutes. Dziezgowski hit a three to put her team on the board in the half but
Colleen McQuillen found Dapaa down low with a nice feed just moments later to get the lead back above 30. Later in the third, McQuillen knocked down two straight triples to briefly make it a 40-point game, 63-23, but Nadechka Laccen's three on the other end started a 7-0 run to close the period for the Bonnies. A Breauna Ware layup within 10 seconds of the start of the final quarter cut the deficit to 31 but DeWolfe drilled a three of her own on the other end.
Kaitlyn Downey and
Asiah Dingle combined on a personal 8-0 run to push the lead to its apex, 76-33, with 6:14 to play and a home timeout led into the media break, allowing the starters to take their seats on the bench for the rest of the contest. The margin hovered around the 40-point mark as
Rose Nelson and
Ashley O'Connor converted looks, both assisted by
Matilda Flood, to make it an 81-38 game, although the Bonnies would close things out with a 13-4 run over the final four minutes.
Downey paced the offense with 16 points, adding 10 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the year, five assists, sharing the team-lead, while shooting 7-of-10 overall and 2-of-3 from behind the arc. DeWolfe and Dapaa each netted 14 points, the latter falling one rebound shy of her own double-double and missing just one of her eight shots. Dingle posted her 32
nd career game of four steals or more and crossed the 300-theft threshold for her career, scoring 11 points with four rebounds and four assists, as well, while Karpell notched six points, five dimes, and four boards in 23 minutes.
Off the bench, McQuillen scored nine points to tie her season-high for a sixth time, with a season-high three assists, two rebounds, a steal, and a block in 21 minutes. Nelson scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting, setting new season-highs for all three, O'Connor scored five with a block and board, and
Kate Deutsch scored two points, as well. Flood tallied a career-high five assists to go with three rebounds, a steal, and a block, while
Faith Pappas also notched her first career swat and second career dime. Making their collegiate debuts in the final minute were
Kaila Berry and
Lexie Tarul.
Fordham won the battle of the boards by a slim 41-40 margin but the Bonnies held a 10-9 advantage on the offensive end, though the Rams had 15 second-chance points to the hosts' 11. The Fordham defense held St. Bonaventure to 29.5% overall shooting, 29.2% from distance, and into committing 18 turnovers, leading to 22 points.
The Rams return home to host new Atlantic 10 foe, Loyola Chicago, on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the team's annual Play4Kay pink game. Fans are encouraged to wear pink and hopefully donate to the Kay Yow fund! The game can be seen live on SNY and ESPN+ with WFUV carrying radio coverage, as always.
