Year two of the “Coach B” era is underway.
Under coach Bridgette Mitchell’s tutelage, Fordham University Women’s Basketball has one mission: bringing an Atlantic 10 title to the Rose Hill Gymnasium for the first time since 2019.
With a slew of outgoing graduates, Mitchell recruited a host of newcomers who seem equally poised to contribute to the 2024-25 campaign.
With superstar three-level scorer and A-10 all-preseason first team member, graduate student Taylor Donaldson, out to begin the season, those newcomers have had ample opportunity to prove themselves as valuable pieces in coach B’s rotation; indeed, a dominant 66-51 win over California State University, Fullerton was a coming out party of sorts for the team’s many freshmen and transfer students.
“From a recruiting perspective, everyone we recruit [will have] equal opportunity to play. Their numbers were called today and they were ready,” said Mitchell after the win on Friday, Nov. 8.
Mitchell specifically doted on the play of the Rams’ frontcourt additions. On the glass, it was freshman Karissa Antoine, a 6-foot New York native, who managed to pull down 10 boards in just 19 minutes while matched up with Fullerton’s best player in senior center Aixchel Hernandez.
Another force inside was graduate transfer Irene Murua. The 6-foot Detroit Mercy product is also an international talent, hailing from Spain. The back-to-the-basket center has showcased advanced post moves in the teams’ first games, frequently utilizing a lefty layup off of post spins en route to 12 points on 5-11 from the floor.
Murua nabbed 11 rebounds, which appeared to be a point of emphasis for coach B. The Rams finished plus four on the boards, with Mitchell noting, “For us to crash the glass the way that we did on offense got us more possessions, and I think we did a really good job of being physical and boxing out.”
Despite Antoine and Murua’s dominance on the glass, the game’s best performer was freshman Precious Omoshola. The 6-foot-2 forward shipped across the Atlantic from London to play her college ball in the Bronx. Omoshola wreaked havoc on the interior, going 6-9 for a game-high 13 points. Omoshola was as much a game breaker defensively, where she has a knack for getting a hand on the ball, swiping four steals even as a post defender.
At the controls for the Rams was senior Taya Davis. The 5-foot-7 pass-first point guard out of Decatur, Illinois, led both teams with her five assists. She steps into the starting point guard role after serving as the sixth man for much of last year, when she averaged a team-high 3.4 assists per game.
Davis initiated the game’s most dazzling play, utilizing a left-to-right crossover into a right-side dribble drive that drew a help defender, at which point she rifled an over-the-shoulder pass to Omoshola for an open layup. It drew oohs and aahs from the crowd, which donned white t-shirts for the team’s White Out night, as well as a binocular celebration from the Rams bench.
Omoshola and Davis seem to have already built a nice rapport, with both players streaking the floor off missed shots and getting easy looks early in the shot clock.
Junior Kaila Berry was pivotal, too, lodging nine points on 4-5 shooting to pair with four rebounds and four steals. Berry got spot minutes off the bench last year but was uber-efficient, and thus far has carried over her reliable presence in a more sizeable role: “KB, she started this game and she hadn’t started before, so for her to come out and perform the way she did, I’m excited for [her].”
Also of note was sophomore transfer Amiyah Ferguson, who delivered a stellar 10-point performance on 4-6 shooting, tacking on four boards, three dimes, a steal and a WNBA-range 3-pointer.
In a preseason interview with WFUV’s Chris Carrino (FCRH ’26) and Ben Oppenheimer (FCRH ’24), Mitchell raved about the new group, joking, “They’re young and they have no idea, and that’s a great thing. They say, ‘Oh, we just gotta go and do that?’ ‘Yup, do it as hard as you possibly can.’ ‘Okay, say no more coach!’”
Mitchell certainly looked to find players that would buy into her idea of Fordham basketball, one defined by aggressive press defense and an offense determined to push up the floor. When asked by Carrino to describe her new-look club’s identity, she said “It’s passion and grit. Our defense is going to continue to prepare us offensively. We have players with length and athleticism so we’re going to look to press a lot more and do different things that we were unable to do in my first year here.”
With Mitchell’s new pieces seeming comfortable in the maroon and white, the Rams would open up an 8-point lead in the first half, one which ballooned to 12 in the third and to 15 at the game’s close. The difference came in the restricted area, where Fordham scored 42 and held Fullerton to just 12.
“We did a good job of executing our game plan of wanting to limit how many points they got in the paint… so I’m really proud of our team and our efforts of being aggressive,” said Mitchell to open up her postgame press conference.
The Rams wound up forcing 19 turnovers, which translated to 19 points. They got 18 steals off a typically sure-handed Titans backcourt by periodically implementing a full-court press and otherwise playing tight in the half-court. They also won the battle of the boards, 44-41, in an all-around defensive clinic.
The win brings the Rams to 1-1 after a 58-50 opening night loss at home to Adelphi University in which the club seemed disconnected offensively in their first outing together. Turnovers made the difference as Fordham gave up the rock 20 times to Adelphi; the Rams forced 23 Panthers turnovers but were only able to turn them into 11 points.
Junior guard Chaé Harris made a strong first impression, though, notching 18 points on 6-13 shooting, adding four rebounds and a pair of steals. While she cooled off against Fullerton, going just 1-10, she seemed poised to take over Emy Hayford’s role from the 2023-24 team as a secondary scoring threat behind Donaldson.
In the A-10 preseason poll, Fordham slotted in at ninth out of 15 teams. Mitchell, who pioneered the Rams to the nine seed last year, wasn’t concerned with the ranking, smirking as she remarked, “It’s preseason. They haven’t seen us, we haven’t proven anything… We’ll see the results at the end.”
As the non-conference slate continues, expect Fordham to continue turning heads around the conference as they get more contributions from their new faces who, according to coach B, seem relentlessly determined to leave their mark: “They’re gonna go and go through brick walls, climb brick walls, maybe even dig a hole and go under — they’re going to find a way through obstacles and I’m really excited about that for our team.”
The Rams will take their first road trip of the year this Tuesday, heading to Seton Hall University for a bout with the Pirates with tip-off at 7 p.m.
