Women's Basketball Rides First-Half Explosion to 16-Point Home Win

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Bronx, N.Y. – Another day, another offensive outburst for Fordham women's basketball. The Rams played Loyola Chicago for the first time since the latter joined the Atlantic 10 and defeated the Ramblers, 80-64, on Saturday afternoon. With the result, Fordham improves to 16-8 overall and 8-3 in league play, while Loyola Chicago falls to 6-17 and 1-9, respectively.
 
With a ninth game of 80 points or better, eight wins, the Rams are now one shy of the historic 1978-79 team's program record. Saturday was also the ninth game with 30+ field goals, 10^th game with double-digit threes, and seventh game of 20 or more assists. Fordham rode an explosive 50-point first half, tied for fourth-most in a half in a single game, to its eventual 16-point victory. The Rams shot 61.8% from the field over the opening 20 minutes, including a mark of 7-of-13 from behind the arc.
 
The Ramblers started out well; Anna Brown made the game's first basket and a Sam Galanopoulos fastbreak three forced interim head coach Candice Green into an early timeout less than three minutes into the contest. That respite proved fruitful, however, as the hosts stormed back to tie and ultimately go ahead for good on their first three possessions, a layup and two threes, all by Kaitlyn Downey. A steal by Colleen McQuillen led to an Asiah Dingle bucket and then a Matilda Flood theft and coast-to-coast layup capped a 12-0 run before Mallory Ramage ended the slump on the other end. A late jumper by Anna DeWolfe in the final seconds gave Fordham a nine-point advantage, 20-11, at the end of the quarter.
 
The second frame started hot with makes on five straight possessions in the first two minutes, the two teams trading blows, before a couple scoreless minutes. Starting with a DeWolfe three at the 6:41 mark, Fordham was on fire, closing the half with a 24-13 stretch to lead by 17, 50-33. The third quarter was the antithesis of what the game had been to that point as Loyola and Fordham combined for just 20 points on 8-of-33 shooting. The Rams took double the amount of shots as their opponent, 22 to 11, but could hit just four more baskets, while also shooting 1-of-4 from the free-throw line.
 
The frame started well, with a quick Dingle jumper and two minutes later a Sarah Karpell layup, but there was a nearly five-minute gap later in the period where the Rams were held off the scoreboard. Fordham's ferocious press, though, kept Loyola Chicago mostly off the board, as well. The Rams carried a 62-41 advantage into the final 10 minutes, where the offense picked things back up, scoring 18 points on 43.8% shooting, but were outscored by five, partially because the Ramblers went to the line seven times and hit 12-of-14 attempts.
 
DeWolfe paced the squad with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, 4-of-9 from behind the arc, with three assists, a rebound, and a steal over a team-high 36 minutes. Dingle produced yet another four-steal game, her 12^th such performance this year alone, to go with 16 points, three boards, three dimes, and a block. Kaitlyn Downey notched her ninth double-double, producing 13 efficient points with 10 rebounds, while Jada Dappa fell just one point shy of her own, scoring nine with 10 boards, as well, both grabbing three offensive rebounds. Karpell and Flood shared the game-high of five assists, the latter recording a steal, a block, and seven rebounds, matching her season-high. Off the bench, Rose Nelson enjoyed a second straight eight-point effort, shooting 4-of-6, while Colleen McQuillen hauled in a career-high five boards and matched her personal-best with two steals and a block. Ashley O'Connor netted one three over eight minutes, as well, off the pine.
 
Fordham shot 47.2% from the field, an even 40.0% from distance, but just 2-of-7 from the charity stripe. The Rams outrebounded the Ramblers, 39-38, with an 11-10 margin on the offensive glass, with 21 assists to 12 turnovers. The overall makes are tied for fourth-most in a single game in program history, the number of assists the sixth-highest.
 
The Rams next hit the road for a rematch with reigning Atlantic 10 champion, Massachusetts, on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.