BRONX, N.Y. - The Fordham University women's basketball program has announced its 2024-25 non-conference slate of games for this season.
Five Empire State foes, two New Jersey opponents, and one trip to the Nutmeg State in early December help make up the stretch of 11 games to prepare the Rams for what will be an 18-game Atlantic 10 slate, with the conference side of the calendar to be announced later this fall. The Rams will play five home games during non-conference play, while hitting the road for the remaining six games, including a pair in California to close the first-half of the 2024-25 schedule.
The 2024-25 season tips off on Nov. 4 in the Bronx as the Rams host Division II Adelphi for the second straight season, the first of two home games that week as Cal St. Fullerton makes the trip from the Golden State to take on the Rams on Friday, Nov. 8. That will mark just the second ever meeting between the two sides, having faced each other previously on Nov. 21, 2003.
From there the Rams hit the road for the first time, heading across the Hudson to Seton Hall on Tuesday, Nov. 12, where they will take on a Pirates team that advanced to the quarter finals of the BIG EAST Tournament before receiving a bid into the WBIT, falling to the A-10's Saint Joseph's in the opening round.
On Friday, Nov. 15, Saint Peter's will make a trip to Rose Hill for the second season in a row. Last time the two teams faced off, Coach Mitchell's squad took a dominating 80-46 victory over the Peacocks. That game saw Taylor Donaldson light up the floor with 35 points including seven three pointers, a career-high for the then senior, who returns for her graduate season with the Rams.
Their second game against a Garden State opponent starts a three-game stretch against teams that Fordham faced in their first year with Mitchell at the helm, as the Maroon and White then make the first trip to Riverdale, as the Battle of the Bronx shifts to the Manhattan campus on Nov. 20.
Hoping to see green and beat green that week, the Rams will host Siena to complete a home-and-home with the Saints from last season on Saturday, Nov. 23. After a grueling 40-minute battle in Loudonville a year ago, Fordham will look to avenge a three point loss in the closing stages of the last meeting between the two sides. Siena finished last season 18-12, including a 14-6 record in the MAAC, advancing to the semifinals of the conference tournament,
Getting a break from there through the Thanksgiving holiday, the Rams return to action Dec. 1, heading out to Long Island for a meeting with Stony Brook. Holding a 9-1 all-time record against the Seawolves, the Rams last faced Stony Brook in 2021.
One of just two trips outside of New York or New Jersey, the Rams will head up I-95 to New Haven, Conn. for a meeting with Yale. The Rams hold an 11-6 all-time record against the Elis, including wins in the last two meetings, most recently in 2022, 80-67 in New Haven.
Dec. 8 will see a Battle of the Boroughs between Brooklyn and The Bronx and Fordham host LIU, the first meeting with Long Island University since it merged its Brooklyn and Post campuses to become one ahead of the 2019-20 season. Prior to that, the Rams held a 6-0 record over LIU Brooklyn at the DI level, and held a 7-2 record over LIU Post before Fordham moved up to Division one ahead of the 1983 season.
Non-conference play will conclude with a trip to California, as the Rams take part in the Raising the Bar Classic, hosted by Cal and created by head coach Charmin Smith Charmin to "elevate the voices, stories and people in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging space and highlight the lack of diversity in women's basketball college coaching. All three teams invited to the tournament each year are led by Black female head coaches."
Fordham will play two games at the Raising the Bar Classic, which features four teams, including the host Bears, Temple, and Xavier. Following those two games, the Rams will open the 2024-25 Atlantic 10 portion of the schedule, which will be announced later this fall.
