By Jack McLoone

If I told you Fordham Women’s Basketball scored under 10 points in two quarters on Saturday against George Washington, what do you think the outcome would be? I would not call you crazy if you guessed a big loss or at least a gritty, close win. Well, the Rams did better than that, topping the Colonials by 12, 50-38. Fordham is now 10-5 and in the midst of a five-game win streak.

“The fact that we had [two] single digit quarters says that the kids listened to us when we told them that defense will keep us in every game!” said head coach Stephanie Gaitley via email.

Starting A-10 play on the road can be tough, but the Rams lucked out with a matchup against George Washington, which was just 3-10 on the season coming into the game.

The key to winning the game for the Rams was a big first quarter, where they outscored the Colonials 23-12. The scoring opened with a three from senior forward Mary Goulding, and the Rams just never stopped hitting from deep. By the end of the quarter, they had hit seven threes, with just two points coming from inside the three-point line.

This was an especially big quarter for senior guard Lauren Holden, who hit three of the seven. She started the season horrifically cold from everywhere on the court but especially from deep. Over her last five games, she shot just under 50 percent from the field, including just under 43 percent from three.

Holden led the Rams in scoring in this game, despite only scoring two more points to finish with 14 on 5-9 shooting, including 4-7 from three.

The second was more of the same offensively for GW, but Fordham also ground to a halt, outscoring the Colonials just 7-6 to take a 30-18 lead into the half.

It was another dominant offensive showing for the Rams to open the third quarter, holding GW to single digits again and outscoring them 16-4. It came at a much slower pace, with the Rams hitting just two threes on back-to-back trips down the court from freshman forward Kaitlyn Downey and then Goulding.

The 24-point buffer was enough to buoy the Rams out of a lackadaisical fourth quarter, where the Colonials came alive and outscored them 16-4.

While Holden was efficient, the Rams struggled to shoot otherwise, as can be expected in a low-scoring game. They shot just 30.5 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from three. They were actually out-shot from the field by the Colonials, who made 34 percent of their shots, despite only hitting one of 11 threes.

The Rams will play their next game at home against Richmond at the Rose Hill Gym at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 9. The Spiders, like George Washington, have just three wins on the season. They opened A-10 play against the Rams of Rhode Island, losing 66-60.