By Sam Belden
Senior Samantha Clark put up a dominant performance in her final game at home. Andrea Garcia/The Fordham Ram
The Fordham women’s basketball team saw mixed results over the final week of the regular season. It went 1-1, knocking off St. Bonaventure on Wednesday but falling to Dayton on Sunday. The Rams finished at 13-16 overall, with an 8-8 conference record and the sixth seed in this week’s Atlantic 10 Championship.
The first game of the week, played in the Rose Hill Gym, was a wild one. St. Bonaventure led after the first quarter, but Fordham bounced back and tied it up by the end of the third. The Rams, playing without concussed sophomore forward G’mrice Davis, finished the job in the final 10 minutes, exploding for 28 points in the last quarter and winning 77-68.
The first quarter of the game was a thriller. While the Bonnies ultimately came away with the advantage, it was Fordham that got off to an early lead. The Rams opened the game by going on a 10-4 run, punctuated by three-pointers from freshman guard Lauren Holden and junior guard Hannah Missry. After the first two minutes, however, the momentum shifted in a big way, and the Bonnies scored the next 12 points, giving them a six-point lead with 4:50 remaining. Thanks to a three from Miranda Drummond, they eventually pushed their lead to 11, but senior forward Samantha Clark tacked on a pair of layups for Fordham near the end of the quarter to lessen the damage. Still, the Rams trailed by seven after the opening period.
St. Bonaventure kept it going at the outset of the second quarter, making a pair of threes to extend its lead to 13. The margin remained in the double digits until the five-minute mark, when junior forward Danielle Padovano hit a three of her own to bring Fordham within nine. It ended up sparking a 7-0 run that lasted until the end of the quarter, putting the Rams five points behind at the game’s halfway point.
After being fouled, Clark opened the second half scoring with a pair of free throws, cutting the Bonnies’ lead to three. Over the next two minutes, both teams slumped–in all, there were five missed shots, two turnovers and zero baskets — but Missry ended the slide by making a three-pointer with 6:28 remaining, tying the game. After being fouled on the play, she went to the line and converted, giving Fordham its first lead since the opening quarter. Shortly thereafter, St. Bonaventure went on a 6-0 run, but the Rams responded. Sophomore guard Asnate Fomina made a layup with 3:06 remaining, and Clark hit a three to even things up. After three quarters, the score was tied at 49.
The game was close throughout the fourth quarter, but Fordham remained a step ahead for the duration. With 8:52 to go, the Rams took a lead that they did not relinquish for the rest of the game. They quickly pushed their lead to six points, and while the Bonnies were at one point able to roll it back to two, that was as close as they got. Holden converted on a three-point play to put it back at six, and from there, the Rams were able to free throw their way to victory. The final score stood at 77-68.
“[It] was a reflection of our season: lots of ups and downs,” head coach Stephanie Gaitley said of the game. “We faced a 14-point deficit but fought our way back.”
Clark, playing her final game in the Rose Hill Gym, led the way for the Rams, scoring 20 points and grabbing 17 rebounds. Fomina and Missry also contributed, scoring 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Fordham’s next game, coming on the road against Dayton, was considerably less close. The Rams never got into an offensive rhythm and were outscored in every quarter, ultimately losing 77-55. It was Fordham’s final regular season contest.
The two teams started out on relatively even footing. Dayton went on a 7-3 run out of the gate, but a three-pointer from junior forward Danielle Burns and a jumper from Clark put the Rams back in the driver’s seat. The rest of the quarter featured a back-and-forth dynamic, but a Burns turnover allowed the Flyers to make the final bucket of the quarter, giving them a five-point lead.
In the second quarter, Fordham quickly pulled to within one, but Dayton responded by going on a 9-0 run. The Rams struggled to keep up, and while they outscored the Flyers from that point until the quarter’s end, the damage had been done. Going into the second half, they trailed by eight.
It was in the third quarter that Dayton really started to take control of the game. A Holden three-pointer cut the lead to seven, but the Rams would get no closer to the lead for the remainder of play. Dayton went on a 14-5 run, giving them a 16-point lead with around two minutes remaining. By the time the period ended, the Rams trailed by 17.
The Rams tried to mount a comeback in the game’s final quarter, but they failed to get anything going. They scored 15 points in the period but just five in the first five minutes. Meanwhile, the Flyers were relentless, extending their lead to 20 points within 15 seconds. They never looked back and ended up earning a decisive 22-point win heading into the A-10 Championship.
Fordham struggled with shot selection throughout the game, making just 35.6 percent from the field. With 15 points apiece, Burns and Holden were the top individual performers, while Clark added 11 points and seven rebounds.
This week, the Rams will head down to Virginia for the A-10 Championship, where they will face the winner of the first round matchup between Massachusetts and La Salle. From there, anything can happen — as the No. 6 seed, Fordham must win four games in order to win the conference title and the NCAA Tournament bid that comes with it.
“[The St. Bonaventure] win showed us what we are capable of doing when focused for 40 minutes,” said Gaitley. “We will need this attitude to help us reach our goals at the A-10 Tournament. I’m proud of our sixth-place finish and feel the field is wide open. We hope we can sustain consistent efforts for 40 minutes and create some special memories.”
The Rams’ first game of the tournament is this Thursday at 7 p.m. in Richmond’s Robins Center.