From beginning to end, this season for Fordham Women’s Basketball has not been an easy one. In a year marked by a new head coach in Bridgette Mitchell and near complete roster turnover, the Rams overcame a dismal conference start, scratching and clawing their way to the ninth seed and a first round bye in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Their hard earned work would come to a gut punch of an end on Thursday, narrowly missing a potential buzzer beater to fall in the second round of the A-10 Championship.
Following a Feb. 3 loss to the University of Richmond, Fordham sank to 2-9 in conference and 7-15 overall. Mitchell’s squad looked outmatched in a deep A-10. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Rams turned their season around.
Fordham rattled off six straight wins, including a massive upset on the road against the then A-10-leading Saint Joseph’s University Hawks. Despite a 93-83 Senior Day loss to La Salle University, the Rams entered tournament time on their best stretch of basketball and with a newfound confidence.
Their winning streak saw them jump five spots up in the final month, settling in with the #9 seed and an extra day of rest. Traveling to the Henrico Sports & Events Center in Virginia, the Rams readied for a Thursday morning matchup against #8 Loyola University Chicago.
The Ramblers weren’t quite skipping into tournament play, dropping seven of their last 10 to close out the regular season. However, they’d earned a 9-point victory against Fordham in January thanks to a complete offensive performance, led by 20 points from graduate student Sam Galanopoulos.
Loyola Chicago shot 10-19 from deep back in their first meeting, a 52.1% mark that ranked third highest on the season. Fordham had struggled to defend beyond the perimeter all season long, encapsulated by a shoddy performance the weekend prior where La Salle made a program-record 20 3-pointers. As the Ramblers entered with the fifth best 3-point percentage in the A-10, it seemed like the game could come down to the arc.
Mitchell keyed in on defensive pressure pregame, hoping to gain an edge over Loyola Chicago with Fordham’s trademark intensity.
The Rams shot out of the gate, holding a 9-point lead with help from four offensive rebounds by the five-minute mark. Senior Taylor Donaldson, who had earned Second Team All-A-10 honors after leading the conference with 18.0 PPG, was right at the forefront, notching seven of Fordham’s 13 points prior to the media timeout.
The Ramblers, however, would not be easily disposed of. Marching back on a run of their own, Loyola Chicago outscored the Rams 12-2, taking a 1-point lead with 12 seconds left on free throws from Aaliyah Moore.
Fordham would take a 17-16 lead right at the quarter’s close thanks to an inbounds steal and subsequent basket from senior Matilda Flood.
After a quarter marked by two distinct runs, both sides elected for a far more even contest in the second. The lead switched hands seven different times with neither team growing a bigger lead than five. This time, it was Loyola Chicago’s turn to grab the lead at the buzzer as Kira Chivers buried a layup as time expired to put them back up by one.
The Ramblers adjusted well to Donaldson’s hot start, double teaming her in their 3-2 zone and holding her scoreless for the final 15 minutes of the first half. With graduate student Emy Hayford, Fordham’s number two scoring option, also struggling to the tune of 3 points on 1-7 shooting, the Rams turned to their bigs.
Sophomore Rose Nelson led Fordham’s attack with a team-high 8 points, while redshirt senior Aminata Ly followed closely behind with seven.
Galanopoulos, much as she’d done all season, led Loyola Chicago’s offensive attack with 10 points, but the Ramblers weren’t able to get much done from the three, going 0-3 from beyond the arc. That would change quickly in the second half with Ali Berg burying a deep 3-pointer 22 seconds in and Alyssa Fisher tacking on another soon after.
Suddenly, the Loyola Chicago offense slowed down. Following a Fisher layup with 5:48 left in the third, the Ramblers would go 11 minutes and 12 seconds of game time without recording a field goal, mustering just 2 points on free throws from Chivers. Despite this, Fordham was unable to seize a substantial lead, coming up with just 12 points in the same span. When Berg hit a 3-pointer to break the field goal drought, it cut the Rams’ lead to 3 points with less than five minutes to play.
The Rams managed to keep a one possession lead in the final stretch, but threw away numerous opportunities to put the game out of reach. Fordham earned seven free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter, five of which came in the final 90 seconds. They didn’t hit a single one.
With the door left open, Loyola Chicago happily walked through. At the 1:04 mark of the fourth quarter, Fisher rose up from the left wing and tied the game at 50 with a clutch three. Ly would answer with a paint jumper 30 seconds later, but it still left the Ramblers with the ball and a full shot clock.
Graduate student Kika Hodge-Carr drove the right lane, sinking the two and drawing the foul. A 54.8% shooter from the line, Hodge-Carr buried the and-one to give Loyola a 1-point lead in the final minute.
The Rams drew up a sidelines inbound play and managed to get the ball into the hands of Donaldson, who attempted to drive inside but tripped in the paint. The Ramblers secured possession and called timeout. With 12.8 seconds left, Loyola Chicago held the upper hand as Fordham still had one foul to give. However, Fordham forced a jump ball off the inbound and regained possession in the final 10 seconds.
The Rams had been gifted one more chance to take the lead. Once again, they managed to find Donaldson on a handoff. Driving from the right wing, Donaldson sped by a defender and attempted to bank in a floater, just as she had done so many times this season. But in a moment of heartbreak, the shot rolled off the rim. Ly would slap the ball back to graduate student Mandy McGurk but it was too late. The Rams would fall 53-52 as the Ramblers stormed onto the court.
As is often the case when an eight seed plays a nine seed, the game truly was a toss up. Both teams entered with identical 8-10 conference records and neither side led by double digits the entire way. It felt like both sides had a chance the entire way; to accentuate that point, the lead switched hands 28 different times.
That said, it’s hard not to feel like the Rams squandered some opportunities, particularly in the final stretch. Fordham met the task defensively, particularly contesting the three ball, but was unable to take advantage of it on the other end. Loyola Chicago went 11 consecutive minutes of gametime without a field goal in the second half, yet Fordham never managed to seize a considerable lead.
Then, of course, there’s the free throws. Fordham left 12 points on the board with a dismal 3-15 performance from the line. The Rams had several chances to extend their lead to two possessions, but failed, leaving the door open for Fisher’s heroic three.
The Ramblers advanced to the next round and were promptly defeated by #1 seeded Richmond, who went on to defeat the University of Rhode Island in the A-10 Championship game.
For the Rams, their hot February helps put a brighter spin on many of the hardships they endured throughout the season. That said, it’s no guarantee that next year won’t bring many of the same challenges.
For Hayford, McGurk and graduate student Kailah Harris, this season marks their last year of eligibility. There are four other seniors, including Donaldson, who are still eligible for one more year, but it remains to be seen if they will take their grad year at Fordham.
Mitchell elected to take a longer term approach postgame: “Our recruits had an opportunity to see how hard you’re gonna have to play in order to be a player here, in order to be coached by me and my staff.”
Fordham concludes the season with a 13-17 record, its first sub-.500 season since 2016. Still, picked in the preseason to finish 13th out of 15 teams in the A-10, it’s hard not to feel proud of what this year’s team accomplished.
“It’s a challenge taking over a new program and putting together a new team,” remarked Mitchell postgame. “For us to have the wins we do this season — we don’t have enough wins — but the ones that we got, we earned. Our team should be proud of those wins and they should be hungry, those that are coming back, for more.”
