PITTSBURGH – Tied at 62 with three seconds to go, the sharpshooting Irene Murua fought her way through a pair of Duquesne defenders as time expired, lifting Fordham University women's basketball to a 64-62 win in Pittsburgh Sunday afternoon.
In a regulation slugfest that lasted over 2.5 hours, the Rams overcame a halftime deficit for the second game in a row, taking back the lead midway through the fourth, fighting off a late rally by the Dukes and forcing a turnover in the closing seconds.
Head Coach Bridgette Mitchell advanced the ball to the front court, setting up an inbounds play in front of the Rams' bench, executed to perfection by Murua, using the full 3.0 seconds to give the Rams their second straight win in league play, and 8-6 on the year.
Despite the Dukes entering the weekend leading the A-10 with the 43rd ranked scoring offense in the country, the Rams held them to just 30 points in the first half, and just 35.7% shooting for the game. The Rams also forced 13 turnovers in the first half alone, against a Duquesne team averaging just 15.8 turnovers per game. Fordham went on to force 23 on the afternoon while tying a season-high with 13 steals for third time, with seven different players nabbing at least one.
For the second game in a row, the Rams spread the scoring wealth with four players in double figures, led by Taylor Donaldson with 17 points, eight rebounds, and four steals, including the one that set up the game winning play. Anastasija Veljovic sunk a pair of key three's to bring the Rams back into the game in the second half, going on to score a career-high 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting along with four rebounds.
Murua's game winning bucket gave her 12 points as she posted her third double-double of the campaign with 11 rebounds and a pair of steals as well, followed by 11 points from Taya Davis, who also added four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block.
Fordham tallied the first six points of the contest with a trio of early buckets, before Duquesne owned the latter half of the opening quarter, with the two sides square at 11-all after one. The Rams forced six turnovers in the opening frame while also collecting six steals in the first.
An extended run to start the second quarter saw the Dukes take their biggest lead of the night at 25-13 with 4:56 to play in the half. Limiting the home side to just six points the rest of the way, the Rams sank three shots of their own along with a trio of free throws, to make it just an eight point game at the break, 30-22.
Despite entering the weekend ranked eighth in the country in three pointers made per game, Fordham held the Dukes to just three makes from beyond the arc on 13 tries in the first half.
A strong start to the second half saw the Maroon and White open with six of the first eight points to cut the Duquesne lead to four, and drew level with 4:51 to play in the third with the second of back-to-back threes from Anastasija Veljovic. The Dukes attempted to pull away once more, but were reigned back in late, as the Rams made it 46-45 heading to the fourth
Continuing to work back into the game, Fordham took back its first lead since late in the opening quarter, pulling ahead 49-48 with 7:21 to play. The Dukes pulled ahead one final time a minute late, before the Rams regained the lead with 5:37 remaining.
Heading to the final minute up 62-59, Duquesne tied the game with 42 seconds to go, and had possession late ahead of a Donaldson steal with three seconds left, sending up a game winning opportunity for the Rams. Rose Nelson inbounded to Murua outside the paint, who drove through a double team to put up the winning layup as time expired to give her team the win.
Fordham will return home for the annual Kids Day Out game Wednesday, Jan. 8 at 11:00 a.m. at the Rose Hill Gym.
