By Sam Belden

On Wednesday night, Fordham Women’s Basketball stunned the surging George Washington Colonials in the Rose Hill Gym, defeating them 76-69. With the win, the Rams move to 5-4 in Atlantic 10 play and 10-12 on the season.

The powerhouse George Washington squad, victorious in its last 12 games before running into Fordham, was simply unable to keep up with the home team. The Colonials shot just 37.5 percent from the field and trailed for all but 30 seconds of the game.

Meanwhile, the Rams were strong from the start. Junior forward Danielle Burns scored Fordham’s first seven points of the game, allowing her team to take a six-point lead out of the gate. She added a three-pointer to push her first quarter total to 10, and by the first buzzer, the Rams were in front, 16-7.

The Colonials began to turn things around in the second quarter, cutting Fordham’s lead to just four with 5:27 remaining. However, an offensive outburst from sophomore forward G’mrice Davis provided some breathing room, and another good jumper from Burns put the lead back in the double digits. A timely three-pointer from freshman guard Lauren Holden allowed Fordham to keep it that way as the halftime buzzer sounded. The score at the half was 37-27.

Just three minutes into the third quarter, George Washington had already closed the gap to just four points, but another good shot from Burns with 5:44 remaining ended the 6-0 run. The Colonials kept charging, however, and a three-pointer from Mei-Lyn Bautista put them within one point of the lead. By the end of the quarter, Fordham’s advantage was three.

The final quarter started out evenly, but a trio of Fordham three-pointers — one from Burns and two from senior forward Samantha Clark — brought the lead back to eight points. From there, junior guard Hannah Missry took over as the game’s hero. While she failed to hit a single shot from the field, the New Jersey native went six-for-six at the free throw line toward the end of the game. From there, the teams traded points as the clock wound down, and Fordham won by a final score of 76-With 31 points and seven rebounds, Burns turned in the strongest performance of the game. Davis added 16 points, while Clark contributed 12 points and eight boards.

The victory put an end to George Washington’s 12-game winning streak and 17-game A-10 winning streak. It also provided some nice closure for the Rams, who fell to the Colonials in last year’s A-10 Tournament.

On Saturday, the Rams will head Amherst for a battle with Massachusetts.