NEW HAVEN, Conn. – With makes on their first two possessions of the game, the Rams let it be known they'd be scoring early and often, and did just that as Fordham University women's basketball pulled away for a 71-54 win on the road at Yale.
The Maroon and White have now won their third game in a row and second straight on the road to improve to 5-3 on the year, while Yale falls to 1-9.
A trio of Rams would finish the game in double figures, led by 23 points on 9-of-10 shooting from Tata Davis, who would also tie for the team lead with three steals. Taylor Donaldson would follow her with 16 points, five rebounds, and a team-high five assists, and Irene Murua would tally 12 points off 6-of-7 shots, and five rebounds as well.
Emma Wilson-Saltos would lead the team with six boards, while Karissa Antoine would collect three steals and four rebounds. The 54 points scored by Yale also marks the sixth time in the first eight games of the year that the Fordham defense has held a team to fewer than 60 points.
The Rams got the scoring started early, with a pair of makes in the first 30 seconds of action, and sank five of the first seven shots from the floor to pull ahead 10-4 early on. Yale creeped back late in the quarter to level the game at 12 but Davis would tally six points in the final 1:12 of the first, to put the Rams ahead 18-15.
Holding the Bulldogs off the board for more than eight minutes in the second quarter, the Rams extended a 13-0 run off Davis' two free throws to end the first, with the first Yale points coming with just 1:57 to play in the half. That would be the only made basket Fordham allowed in the frame, winning the quarter 14-2, and extending a 32-17 lead heading into the break.
Davis and Donaldson went into the locker room already in double figures with 11 points apiece, combining for all but 10 of the Rams' first half points. The Fordham defense would force the Bulldogs into 12 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes, including eight in just the second period.
The Maroon and White continued to light it up in the third quarter, pulling ahead for their biggest lead of the night just over four minutes into the half, going up 43-21. A trio of makes from Yale cut that back to a 15-point lead with just under three and a half minutes in the quarter. Despite trying to crawl back, Fordham would put its foot down with seven points in the last 90 seconds of the third to take a 51-
Combining for 45 points in the final quarter, Yale tallied 25 down the stretch, but Fordham kept pace throughout the frame with 20 of their own to withstand the strong shooting from the Bulldogs for a comfortable 71-54 win.
Fordham will look to make it four straight Sunday afternoon when they host LIU at the Rose Hill Gym at 2:30 p.m.
