Amherst, Mass. – As usual, a game involving Fordham women's basketball and Massachusetts went down to the wire. This time, in Amherst on Wednesday night, the Minutewomen prevailed late, 80-79. With the loss, the Rams fall to 16-9 overall and 8-4 in conference play, while UMass improves to 20-4 and 10-1, respectively.
From start to finish, Wednesday's contest was a whirlwind, replete with elite offense and efficiency, with 20 lead changes and eight ties, and winding down with a slugfest of a back-and-forth in the final two minutes as the lead changed six times. Ultimately, it was Ber'Nyah Mayo's jumper with 11 seconds to play that provided the final blow. Fordham had a chance on the other end but ran out of time. Mayo finished with 29 points, one shy of
Asiah Dingle's season-high 30.
UMass jumped out to an early 6-3 lead that was overturned by a personal 5-0 run from
Anna DeWolfe and Dingle, the latter assisting on two buckets by the former. Stefanie Kulesza answered with back-to-back makes in the paint before
Matilda Flood drained a top-of-the-key three to lead, 11-10. Moments later, Dingle pickpocketed Sydney Taylor and went coast-to-coast and the score was 13-10 at the first media timeout. Later in the period, Dingle and Destiney Philoxy traded threes before Mayo's last-second putback closed the gap to one point, 18-17, at the end of the opening frame.
Fordham was sensational offensively in the second quarter, hitting 10-of-14 shots, 3-of-4 from distance, for 23 points, leading by as much as 11 points. Defensively, the Rams were holding the Minutewomen to just 25.0% shooting for nearly nine minutes. Following a Dingle coast-to-coast rebound and layup that put the visitors ahead, 41-30, with 1:33 to play in the half, UMass knocked down three consecutive threes by three different players to quickly close the gap to two at the interval.
The Rams maintained their lead until a Sam Breen layup broke a 48-48 tie nearly four minutes in. Dingle answered on the other end and a pair of free throws from Flood put Fordham briefly back on top. Makennah White knotted things back up and Breen hit a three to start a 6-0 run for the hosts. That lead was brief, too, as
Kaitlyn Downey converted a three-point play and
Jada Dapaa grabbed a huge offensive rebound after a missed Dingle free throw, who made the front end, to put it back up and in to tie the game, 58-58, with a minute left to force a UMass timeout. Dingle answered a Sydney Taylor make with 10 seconds to go but the Minutewomen were bailed out with two seconds left and Mayo converting a layup through traffic, her freebie leading to a 63-60 lead after 30 minutes of action.
UMass led for the first five minutes of the fourth but never by more than five as Downey, Dapaa, and
Rose Nelson converted critical buckets, the latter hitting two big free throws and sinking a floater each time with the margin at five, all point scored with Dingle on the bench due to foul trouble. A DeWolfe pull-up cut the deficit to one with 5:40 and a minute later after the final media break,
Colleen McQuillen drilled a clutch corner trey to retake the lead, 72-71. Nearly two minutes of scoreless ball preceded a Philoxey three to put her squad ahead with three minutes left.
With 1:36 left in regulation, Dingle hit a long two to put Fordham ahead 75-74. So started the six lead changes down the stretch. Breen hit two free throws and Dingle sank a jumper in the paint. Two UMass misses led to a lucky bounce to an open Breen for an easy two with 32 seconds left. Dingle found DeWolfe for a midrange jumper. The Minutewomen took a timeout with 17 seconds left and Mayo hit a tough shot afterwards. Out of a final Ram timeout, Dingle found Dapaa with space on the left side of the key but the two collided and a scramble for the ball drained the clock and ended the contest.
Dingle led the Rams in nearly every category, pouring in a season-high 30 points on 13-of-19 shooting, 3-of-5 from behind the arc, for her third career 30-point game. The fifth-year added eight rebounds, six assists, and four steals over 29 minutes. DeWolfe finished with 17 points and four dimes, while Dapaa double-doubled with 12 points and 10 rebounds, plus three dimes, in a season-high 33 minutes.
Sarah Karpell chipped in four assists and Downey tallied eight points, seven boards, and a block. Off the bench, Flood, McQuillen, and Nelson all had clutch moments, combining for 12 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.
Fordham's 53.3% clip from the field was second-highest on the year but so were the team's 19 turnovers. The Rams did assist on 21 of 32 makes from the floor and outrebounded UMass, 40-27, with a 10-8 margin on the offensive glass. However, the Minutewomen shot 45.5% overall, 47.6% from deep, and 10-of-16 from the line with just 10 turnovers.
During the game,
Anna DeWolfe moved into third place all-time with 228 career three-pointers, passing former teammate
Kendell Heremaia, and ascended to fifth all-time with 3,820 career minutes played. Her 69 threes this year are already tied for ninth in a single campaign, while
Asiah Dingle's 84 steals are fourth-most. Dingle is also just 88 points away from 1,000 in a Fordham jersey.
The Rams will look to rebound after a weekend off when they travel to La Salle next Thursday, February 16
th, at 11 a.m. in the Explorers' Kids Day game.
