By MATT ROSENFELD
SPORTS EDITOR
Head coach Stephanie Gaitley and her Rams began their 2013-14 campaign on a high note last Friday as they defeated the University of San Francisco Dons by a score of 80-66. Fordham then went to University Park, Pa. where it fell to 13th ranked Penn State, 78-61.
Erin Rooney recorded a double-double in Fordham’s season-opening win. She had 19 points and 10 rebounds. (Photo by Ally White/The Ram)
The season started in the Rose Hill Gym, when the women had a 6 p.m. matchup against San Francisco as part of a basketball double header with the men. The game began with senior captain Erin Rooney driving for a layup just 30 seconds into the contest. Fordham grabbed a five point lead early until the Dons went on a 12-2 run to take a 14-7 lead only five minutes into the game.
Fordham, as has been the case since Gaitley took over the program, fought back. The Rams regained the lead halfway through the first half, when sophomore forward Samantha Clark put an easy layup in.
Then, before San Francisco could blink, it was staring at a seven point deficit in large part because of freshman Hannah Missry’s sharp shooting. The Jackson, N.J. native hit three consecutive three pointers to stun the Dons and put Fordham in a comfortable position late in the first half. The Rams would continue to excel on offense, heading into halftime leading San Francisco 47-38.
The Fordham offense continued to shine in the second half, led by senior guard Abigail Corning. She scored the first five points of the half, upping the Rams’ lead to 14. Corning had 14 of her 22 total points in the second half.
“I just let the game come to me,” Corning said. “I don’t want to force shots. I took a couple shots in the first half that just didn’t fall, but I’m a shooter, and shooters don’t stop shooting. So I came out in the second half, kept my focus and took the shots I thought I could make and they went in.”
San Francisco would try to cut into the lead, but never came within 10 points of Fordham in the second half. Fordham built its lead to as much as 18, as Rooney, along with Missry and freshman Danielle Burns, helped Fordham get to 80 points, which is 28 more points than the team averaged per game last year. It is also the first time the Rams have reached 80 since 2010.
The explosion on offense was far from expected from a Rams team that prides itself on defense.
“We do have a good offensive team,” Corning said. “But putting up 80 points, I don’t even think we came close to that last year. The shots were falling for us and it gives us confidence going forward.”
Corning, who ended the game with 22 points, three rebounds and six assists is just half of the veteran backcourt that will be essential to a Fordham team looking to continue the success it had last year.
“It’s great to have [Rooney and Corning],” Gaitley said. “When you have senior leadership like that, not only are they great leaders, but they’re great players.”
One concern for the Rams was their habit of turning the ball over. Fordham had 14 turnovers, many of which led to San Francisco points. The Dons scored 20 of their 66 points off of turnovers.
“I attribute a lot of [the turnovers] to the first game,” Gaitley said. “Kids are trying to find their identity and sometimes trying to do too much, but a lot of it’s because it’s the first game.”
Fordham took its 1-0 record on the road to Penn State on Sunday, Nov. 10, but the reigning Big 10 champs showed why they were ranked number 13 in the nation.
Early on, the Rams hung with Penn State, staying around 10 points behind the Nittany Lions for most of the first half. Led by Rooney and Corning, the Fordham backcourt played every minute in the first half, combining for 11 points and eight rebounds. Missry went just two for six from beyond the arc as the Rams, who had 47 points in the first half of their season opener, trailed Penn State 38-28 going into halftime.
“When you have a lot of young kids and you go and play a team that is nationally ranked, you have to get them past the outside things like the ranking, the name and the arena,” Gaitley said. “The first part is believing you can beat that team. I think our kids realized after the first half that we could beat this team; it’s just that we have to execute and do things well.”
The Nittany Lions took off in the second half and overpowered Fordham. They jumped out to an 18 point lead just four minutes into the half. The Rams continued to fight back though, as they trimmed the lead to 10 with the help of two Rooney three-pointers and a Samantha Clark layup.
Unfortunately for the Rams, every time they tried to come back Penn State nipped the effort in the bud. When Fordham trimmed the deficit to 10 with about 12 minutes to play, reigning Big 10 Player of the Year senior Maggie Lucas scored five straight points to take the air out of the Fordham comeback.
“The thing is, when you let up, a good team will capitalize,” Gaitley said. “We started Abigail Corning on [Lucas] and she did a great job, but when we got caught in a switch, there were breakdowns. I would say we played 20 to 25 minutes of solid basketball. You can’t win on the road against a nationally ranked team unless you play 40 solid minutes.”
The Penn State lead climbed to as high as 27 points with about five minutes to play, but in classic Fordham fashion, Gaitley’s Rams finished the game on a 13-3 run to bring the final score to 78-61.
Rooney led Fordham in scoring, tallying 20 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists.
While the loss may have brought the Fordham record to 1-1, the Ram defense has nothing to be ashamed of. Penn State scored over 100 points in both its exhibition game against Lock Haven and its season opener against St. Francis (Pa.). Fordham held them to only 78 points.
“After watching the game, we did a decent job defensively with the exception of when freshmen switched onto [Lucas],” Gaitley said.
Fordham will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 15 when it takes on Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y.
