By MATT ROSENFELD

SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham women’s basketball team had been creating history all year: best start since the 1995-96 season, most non-conference wins since the 1983-84 season and third most regular-season wins in program history, just to name a few.

But the first Atlantic 10 championship in Fordham history will have to wait, as Fordham lost to St. Joseph’s 47-46 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn last Saturday night.

“It was a hard fought game between two very good teams battling, but breaks go a certain way at the end,” head coach Stephanie Gaitley said. “We’ve taken a huge step [as a program], and I’m extremely proud of these girls.”

Everything seemed to be falling into place for the Rams in the A-10 tournament. After earning the third seed and a bye in the opening round, Fordham easily dispatched St. Louis 65-48 in the quarterfinals. Then Temple managed to upset the second-seeded Charlotte 49ers, leaving Fordham with a semifinal opponent in Temple that it had defeated just a week prior.

A 66-55 win over the Owls on March 10 had given Fordham a chance to play for its first Atlantic 10 title and a potential berth into the NCAA tournament, something that has not happened for the Rams since 1994. Earlier that evening, the Rams got what seemed like a little more luck when St. Joe’s was able to pull off a major upset over Dayton, who had not lost a conference game all season. Fordham would move on to the big stage to face a tough St. Joe’s team, but a St. Joe’s team they knew they could beat.

In the teams’ only meeting this season, Fordham defeated St. Joe’s 70-63 in a game that went to overtime in Rose Hill Gym.

“We knew it was a hard fought game last time we played St. Joe’s,” Gaitley said. “But we looked at [this championship game] as a blank jersey and just somebody standing between us and going to the NCAA tournament.”

The atmosphere in the Barclays Center was something special. In what would be announced as the highest-ever attendance A-10 women’s championship, there was palpable electricity in the air, something that is rare when it comes to Fordham athletics. A clearly audible chant of “let’s go Fordham” broke out moments before tip.

That electricity translated into on-the-court results for the Rams, who started off the game on a tear. Fordham scored the first 12 points of the game, as two three-pointers from graduate student Marah Strickland, along with a couple of successful jumpers from junior Abigail Corning, had the Rams up big less than six minutes into the game.

St. Joe’s, however, did not panic early on.

“I knew that if we chipped away [at Fordham’s early 12 point lead], that we would be able to make a run at it,” St. Joe’s head coach Cindy Griffin said. “Fordham scores in bunches, and that was certainly a big bunch.”

The Hawks did just that: chipped away. Slowly but surely, the Rams’ 12-point lead started to fall. St. Joe’s scored its first points of the game on two free throws from senior Ashley Prim with 14:17 left in the first half, and although the Hawks were chipping into Fordham’s big lead, it was not due to stellar shooting. St. Joe’s was ice cold from the field.

The Hawks shot 21 percent, making only six of 28 attempts from the field in the first half, and did not make any of their three attempts from beyond the arc.

The Fordham lead trickled down to four, but the Rams finally took advantage of St. Joe’s lack of offense. Following a jumper from St. Joe’s senior Natasha Cloud that made the score 16-12, Fordham went on to outscore St. Joe’s 8-4 in the final seven minutes of the half. A three from senior Arielle Collins, who finished with five points and five rebounds, created separation late in the first half.

Fordham took a 24-16 lead into the locker room and were only 20 minutes from an Atlantic 10 title and a spot in the NCAA tournament.  Strickland led all scorers at half with nine points. Cloud and Prim each had five points for St. Joe’s.

“Both teams started a little tight,” Gaitley said. “We knew at half that the game wasn’t over, we knew it was going to be a game of runs.”

The second half began with the two teams trading baskets, and Fordham maintaining an eight-point lead for three minutes. It was then that St. Joe’s would go on its run.

The Hawks went on a 12-0 run that matched the run the Rams opened the game on. Five points from Cloud and four from sophomore forward Chatilla van Grinsven propelled the run that gave St. Joe’s its first lead of the night. A three-pointer from senior Mireia Vila capped off the run that gave the Hawks a four-point lead and forced Gaitley to take a timeout.

“We were very calm,” Gaitley said about the team’s demeanor after St. Joe’s took the lead. “We thought, they made their run, time to make ours. Just like we knew the game wasn’t over when we were up 12, we knew the game wasn’t over when we were down four.”

Fordham came right back after the timeout. A jumper from senior Erin Rooney and a layup by Collins tied the game at 34 with just eight minutes to play.

A jumper, steal and one made free throw from Cloud, who would be named the A-10 tournament’s most outstanding player, gave the Hawks a three point lead, at which point St. Joe’s seemingly had control.

Two free throws from Strickland cut the lead to one, then Prim and Strickland traded three-pointers and the lead was still at one going into the final media timeout of the game.

St. Joe’s turned the ball over coming out of the timeout, which led to a three from Corning that gave Fordham the lead 42-40 with three minutes remaining, the first time the Rams had regained the lead in over nine minutes of play. This forced St. Joe’s to take a timeout.

St. Joe’s junior guard Erin Shields was fifth in the A-10 tournament in scoring heading into the championship game, averaging 16.5 points per game. She had been held without a point all game.

But Shields came through when her team needed her most: After the Hawks’ timeout Shields hit a three-pointer from the corner that put her team back up one, 43-42 and swung the momentum in favor of St. Joe’s.

A missed layup by Fordham’s freshman forward Samantha Clark and a successful St. Joe’s jumper later, and the Rams found themselves down three, forced to take another timeout.

Keeping up with the theme of the previous few minutes, Corning came out of the break and hit another clutch three pointer to tie the game at 45 with only two minutes to go.

Two free throws on the next possession from van Grinsven put St. Joe’s up two. Following the free throws, neither team could score as time wound down. A missed jumper from Strickland with 47 seconds left forced the Rams to foul. Collins would foul Cloud and send her to the line for a one and one.

Cloud missed the front end, allowing Fordham a chance to tie the game. Rooney would drive to the basket only to be fouled and sent to the line for two free throws. She made one of two, which left Fordham down one with 30 seconds remaining. Missing a free throw late against St. Joe’s was an all-too-familiar feeling for the junior guard.

In the teams’ previous meeting, Rooney had a chance to clinch the game for Fordham with two free throws late in the second half. She missed the first attempt of a one and one, which led to St. Joe’s tying the game and sending it into overtime. Although Fordham won the game, Rooney knew she missed a big shot.

“After that [first] game, I thought I needed to practice my free throws,” Rooney said. “I had been practicing them a lot lately, so I went up to the line [in the final minute] fully confident that I was going to hit them.”

The Rams caught a lucky break, however, as the missed free throw from Rooney bounced amongst a collection of players underneath the basket and went out of bounds off of a St. Joe’s player, giving Fordham one more chance.

After a timeout, Rooney took the ball at the top of the court. As the clock ticked below 10 seconds, Rooney looked inside to get the ball to Clark, who had a mismatch with a guard playing on her. As Rooney tossed the ball into Clark, however, Clark was called for an offensive foul that gave St. Joe’s the ball with just six seconds to go. St. Joe’s would miss both its free throws after being fouled, but not enough time was left for the Rams to get a good look. A full court heave from Strickland fell well short of the basket.

Fordham was left watching as St. Joe’s celebrated its championship win.

“Not to sound bad, but I didn’t see a foul,” Strickland said after the game. “We were all pretty shocked and disappointed [when the foul was called]. We tried to stay focused on finishing the game strong, but it was a tough call.”

Coach Gaitley had mixed emotions about the call as well.

“I’ve never lost a game like this,” Gaitley said. “I’ve always believed it should be the kids that determine the outcome, and that’s what is so disappointing.”

Gaitley stressed that she had been arguing  with the officials for similar calls in the paint all game, only adding to her dismay about the call.

“The frustrating thing for me is that I had been arguing on the other end that they had been doing the same thing,” Gaitley said. “So for it to go against you, on the last play, for the championship and the right to go to the NCAA tournament [was frustrating].”

After the game, there was a small ceremony honoring the All-Atlantic 10 tournament team. Strickland and Rooney were named to the team from Fordham.

The Rams are not done with their season quite yet though. For the first time since 1994, there will be postseason basketball for Fordham University. The Rams received an at-large bid to the Women’s NIT.

Fordham will take on Army on Thursday, March 21 in Rose Hill Gym. The Black Knights went 22-8 this year and finished on top of the Patriot League in the regular season. Army was upset in the first round of its conference tournament by Colgate, ending its hopes of an NCAA tournament berth.

“We are excited about the opportunity to represent both Fordham and the Atlantic 10 in the post season,” Gaitley said.

“This team has made their stamp on this program and has proven that Fordham is a program on the rise and here to stay!”