By Sam Belden
Junior guard Asnate Fomina drives the lane against. (Andrea Garcia/The Fordham Ram)
While most Fordham students spent the Thanksgiving holiday at home with their families, the members of the women’s basketball team took their talents to South Beach for the Miami Thanksgiving Tournament, hosted by the University of Miami Hurricanes. While a first round loss eliminated the Rams from contention, they beat Grambling State in the consolation game to take third-place honors.
On Friday, the Rams faced Texas Tech in the first round. While they held their own against one of the Big 12’s foremost offensive teams, they ultimately fell to the Lady Raiders by a score of 59-50.
The two sides combined for just 15 points in the first quarter, with Texas Tech holding a one-point lead. Fordham would make just 22.2 percent of its shots from the field in the first half, while Texas Tech posted a mark of 31.0 percent. All those misses provided plenty of opportunities for Fordham’s junior forward G’mrice Davis, who grabbed 12 rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play. At the halftime buzzer, the Rams led 21-20.
The Rams opened the second half with a couple of buckets from Davis and freshman guard Kate Kreslina, but the momentum shifted from there, leading to a 9-0 run for Texas Tech. With 6:26 remaining in the quarter, Fordham used a team effort to cut into the deficit, with Davis, Kreslina, sophomore guard Lauren Holden, junior guard Tiffany Suarez and junior guard Asnate Fomina all contributing points in the last several minutes. The Rams managed to make up some ground but still trailed 41-36 at the end of the quarter.
Fordham kicked off the last quarter with a bang. Senior guard Hannah Missry missed a three-point attempt, but a Fomina rebound and a quick pass back allowed her to convert on a jumper just six seconds later, cutting the Texas Tech lead to three. However, Fomina missed a three-point attempt of her own on the next Fordham possession, allowing the Lady Raiders to stretch their lead to seven. This was the story of the quarter — while the Rams continued to threaten, Texas Tech managed to match them almost play for play. Davis delivered a strong performance down the stretch, but it was the Lady Raiders who held on for the 59-50 win.
Davis delivered the performance of the game, scoring 14 points to go along with 17 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Beyond that, the game featured a very balanced effort from the Rams, with six players scoring either five or six points.
With their championship hopes dashed, the Rams headed into Sunday’s consolation game against Grambling State with little on the line but high spirits. They triumphed 59-53, with Davis delivering a performance for the ages.
While it was an impressive game for the Rams, they again struggled in the first quarter, putting up just 10 points. Davis, however, was impressive from the get-go, scoring Fordham’s first three buckets of the day and grabbing six rebounds in the first seven minutes. Somehow, Grambling State’s offense was even worse than Fordham’s, failing to score until midway through the period and posting just six points.
Both teams improved as the second quarter got underway. A 10-2 run for Fordham brought the lead to double digits, but the Tigers were resilient, using a three-pointer and an and-one to help cut the lead to five with 2:38 remaining in the half. Another three-point play for Fordham senior forward Danielle Padovano and a pair of three-pointers from Missry put the lead back in double digits, but Grambling State finished strong to work it back to eight as the halftime buzzer sounded.
The relatively close score never materialized into much real drama. The teams were evenly matched in the second half, both making about a third of their shots from the field; the Rams ended up with 27 points to the Tigers’ 29. However, Grambling State trailed by at least six for the entire remainder of the game, leading to a relatively anticlimactic finish. Fordham held on to win the consolation game 59-53.
Davis was the star of the game, scoring 15 points to go along with her whopping total of 21 rebounds. She became the first Fordham player to grab more than 20 rebounds in a single game in 13 years, securing All-Tournament honors in the process. Missry also scored 15 points, while Holden added 10.
The Rams will stay busy this week. They will play their first conference opponent of the year, Duquesne, in the Rose Hill Gym on Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by another home game against Boston College on Sunday at 2 p.m.
