NEW YORK – Scoring the first basket of the contest Wednesday night, Fordham University women's basketball rolled past La Salle on Senior Night, 72-51.
Fordham opened the scoring 53 seconds into the action, sparking a 6-0 run that forced an early La Salle timeout. Despite that stoppage, the Maroon and White led the final 39:07 of the contest, with the visitors never drawing level at any point after the start of the game.
Forcing seven straight turnovers to end the first half, Fordham tallied 13 points off turnovers in the second quarter alone, pulling ahead by 12 at the break, and never looked back as they improved to 15-13 on the year and 9-8 in league play heading into the final game of the regular season Saturday afternoon.
With tonight's win, and Dayton victory at Saint Joseph's, the Rams will play as either the No. 8 or No. 9 seed in the A-10 tournament, taking on Duquesne who will take the opposite seed to Fordham which will be determined following the conclusion of Saturday's contests.
A trio of Rams rattled off double figure scoring nights, including Irene Murua who tallied 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting along with seven rebounds to lead the team. Emma Wilson Saltos added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Chae Harris added ten points including a pair of three pointers.
Pacing the team in assists, rebounds, and steals, Taya Davis added 11 assists while committing just two turnovers, eight boards, and three steals, and in the two combined games against La Salle, totaled 24 assists, with 13 dimes back on Feb. 12 in Philadelphia.
The Maroon and White shot over 50% from the floor in the second and third quarters, shooting 43.8% on the night as a team, assisting on 18-of-28 shots on the night.
Opening the game on a 10-3 run Fordham forced a La Salle timeout less than two minutes into play, though the Explorers worked quickly to battle back, trailing by just one at the end of the first, 15-14.
Trading baskets three a-side to start the second period of action, the Maroon and White pushed a 14-3 run in just over three minutes, to take a 12 point lead with 2:07 to play in the half. Capitalizing on 15 first half turnovers by La Salle, the Rams stretched their lead to 37-25 at the half.
Continuing to pour it on in the third quarter, Fordham opened with eight of the first ten points, pushing their advantage to 18 points, and took their biggest lead of the night to that point with a 22-point lead at 54-32 with 27 seconds left to play in the frame.
Holding the Explorers without a make from the floor in the final 5:03 of play, the Rams cruised in the final ten minutes of action, taking their largest margin of victory at 22 points, since the Rams defeated Siena, 90-51 back on Nov. 23 earlier this season.
With one game left on the docket in the regular season, Fordham heads down to NASCAR country for a meeting with Davidson Saturday afternoon in North Carolina at 1:00 p.m.
