By MATT ROSENFELD
SPORTS EDITOR
All good things must come to an end.
That was the case for the Fordham women’s basketball team in Harrisonburg, Va. when the Rams fell to James Madison 77-61 in the Sweet 16 of the WNIT.
After defeating Army in its opening round game of the postseason tournament, Fordham faced Boston University in its second round game in the Rose Hill Gym.
A slow start had the Rams trailing to the Terriers early, but Fordham would soon come alive on offense. Two three-pointers from graduate student Marah Strickland along with another courtesy of junior guard Erin Rooney were highlights of a 15-2 run that put Fordham in control of the game early with a 17-8 lead. The teams traded baskets after the run while the Rams maintained their lead, never having it drop below six points.
Fordham took a 28-19 lead into halftime in large part because of its ability to convert turnovers into points. Boston had eight turnovers to Fordham’s six in the first half, but the Rams were able to get 11 points off of those opportunities, while Boston only had two.
The second half was almost a mirror image of the first. Boston cut the lead to five early on, until a 7-0 run from Fordham that started with a momentum swinging three pointer from freshman Samantha Clark put it in control once again.
Fordham controlled the game until a 7-0 run from the Terriers threatened Fordham in the middle of the second half. The Rams remained cool, though, just as they had done many times before. Head coach Stephaine Gaitley decided to put Rooney back into the game with four fouls, and it proved to be successful.
“[Rooney] is a calming presence,” Gaitley said. “I could see a couple of our kids getting tired, so I went with my gut [and put Rooney back into the game].”
Three consecutive layups from Strickland, Rooney and senior Arielle Collins over the next four minutes would bump Fordham’s lead back up to 12 and take the wind out of Boston’s sails once and for all. Fordham would go 7-9 from the free throw line over the last four minutes of the game to secure a victory and another game in the WNIT.
In what would be the last game in Rose Hill Gym this season, Fordham beat Boston University 58-44 to move on and face James Madison. Strickland led all scorers with 14 points. Rooney and Collins would have 12 each, while Clark had nine.
Collins spoke about what it means to see the program that had struggled so much in her first three years.
“Looking back on my past three years,” Collins said. “Seeing how hard we’ve all worked to get to this point, it really is a blessing. Knowing that when I leave the great tradition of Fordham basketball is going to continue on is great.”
The Rams moved on to face James Madison in their next game. In its first road game of the WNIT, Fordham traveled all the way down to Virginia to take on the Dukes and continue the historic postseason run.
The game would start off slowly as the teams traded baskets. After a 5-5 tie, the Dukes ripped off a 10-2 run that included two three-pointers from junior guard Kirby Burkholder. All of a sudden the Rams were down 15-7.
Like always Fordham was resilient, fighting to cut the lead down to three behind tight defense with 11 minutes left in the first half.
James Madison came right back, however, going on a 13-2 run that gave it a substantial lead, 32-18. Fordham, with Strickland leading the charge, cut the lead down to single digits again, getting it as low as four points. Strickland had 10 points in a five minute span that got Fordham back in it.
After being on the ropes a couple times, the Rams went into halftime only down six, 38-32.
“They definitely jumped on us early,” Gaitley said. “But then we settled down. At first we played a little rushed. Their crowd, which is part of the reason they were home, really came into play along with their postseason experience.”
The Dukes came out of the locker room quickly, jumping on Fordham and gaining a nine point lead just 30 seconds into the second half. But, as they had done all night, the Rams fought back, getting the lead down to four again, 43-39.
The teams would trade baskets for a few minutes until James Madison took control. Ahead 49-43 with about 15 minutes left in the game, the Dukes went on a 18-2 run that gave them a commanding 22-point lead with eight and a half minutes left. Even the resilient Fordham team could not come back from that.
James Madison cruised to a 16 point victory, 77-61, and advanced to the Elite 8 of the WNIT. Fordham’s magical season had come to an end.
Fordham had 20 turnovers, well above its season average of 13.5 per game. They also shot only 27 percent from beyond the arc. Poor three-point shooting has been a common trait amongst Fordham’s losses this year.
“They just beat us,” Gaitley said. “We didn’t give them anything, we fought hard and we left everything we had out on the court. It’s just they were a focused group that lost in the WNIT Championship last year, and they came on the court with something to prove.”
The loss ended Fordham’s best year in three decades. The Rams’ 26 wins was one short of the program’s record for wins in a season. Fordham won its first postseason games since 1980 and left a foundation for years to come.
“I told the team how much I loved them and how much they raised the bar for this program,” Gaitley said to the team after the loss. “In time, they’ll be able to reflect and realize that they were a part of history.”
