By Matt Rosenfeld
The defending Atlantic 10 champions are off to a rough start. Fordham’s women’s basketball team lost its first two games of the season this past week, 72-51 at home against Iona and 59-42 at 24th-ranked Syracuse.
The Iona Gaels made the short trip down the Bronx River Parkway and were off and running early on Saturday. Iona started the game on a 17-4 run, led by senior guard Damika Martinez, who had 10 points during that stretch.
Iona did not take its foot off the pedal, stretching its lead to 20 points midway through the first half. Fordham could not get out of its own way, turning the ball over 12 times in the first half and shooting just 38 percent from the field and were a woeful one for 11 from three. Last year’s three- point-savant, sophomore Hannah Missry who is still nursing a foot injury, was sorely missed.
Many of Fordham’s turnovers came from the guard position, where the Rams are still trying to fill the holes left by Abigail Corning and Erin Rooney, two major pieces of the team who graduated last year.
“When you’re playing three new starters and it’s at the guard posi- tion, guard is such a critical spot,” head coach Stephanie Gaitley said. “When you look out there and 200 of your 244 threes are not in the lineup, you have to really play different. And when Iona went to zone, I think our kids were like, ‘What do we do?’ By the time we got comfortable offensively, they had jumped on us.”
Iona took a 42-24 lead into the locker room at halftime. At the start of the second half, Fordham tried its best to mount a comeback behind senior Emily Tapio, who had six points in the early going of the second and helped cut the deficit to 12.
Unfortunately for Fordham, that is when the offense stopped. The Rams went scoreless over a five-minute period in the second half, and Iona took advantage, pushing its lead to 22. Fordham would get no closer than 19 points before the final whistle.
The duo of Martinez and Iona junior Joy Adams, who finished with a 23-point, 12-rebound double- double, was too much for Fordham to overcome. The Gaels ended the game with 26 points off of 19 Fordham turnovers.
“I don’t think we played with a lot of heart,” Gaitley said. “Once they got up on us, I think we all went into our own little world and thought, ‘No, we’re Fordham and we’re supposed to win,’ but it’s a new year and a new team. When you’re the hunted, everybody is coming after you. With that, you have to take everybody’s best hit.”
After matching their season total in home losses from last year, Fordham traveled to the Carrier Dome on Sunday to take on a nationally ranked Syracuse team, an opponent that Fordham knew would force it to beat a zone defense.
The Rams played a much better first half against the Orange. While the Rams again struggled with turnovers, they were more successful from behind the arc, converting four of six three-pointers, led by sophomore Alina Gjerkes, who made both of her attempts in the first half.
A tightly contested first half ended with Fordham down 22-21, a big improvement from just a couple nights earlier in the Bronx.
A familiar enemy got to the Rams in the second half. A couple of early turnovers from Tapio started a 10-2 run for Syracuse that put some dis- tance between the two teams. Before the Rams knew what hit them, they trailed by nine and were fighting to stay close. They did just that, how- ever, cutting the lead to five, 36-31, with about 11 minutes to go. But then, just as it did against Iona, the offense went cold.
Fordham scored just five points over an eight minute span, which saw Syracuse extend its lead to 19 points. The two teams would trade baskets until the 59-42 final. The loss marked the first time the Rams dropped their first two games under Gaitley.
“Our defense was on point [in the first half],” Tapio said. “We were able to make them do what they didn’t want to do. We had a hand in their leading scorer Briana Butler’s face the entire time, and we were really composed in breaking the press. In the second half though, we got down and weren’t quite able to come back. But, we were proud we held them to 59 points.”
Another bright spot for the Rams was freshman G’mrice Davis, who narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
While the Rams may have lost their first two games, the team knows it is still very early and that there is no need to panic.
“Patience is going to be very important for us,” Tapio said. “The experience is not there yet, but we have people on our team who will pick each other up. The first two games are over, we’re going to learn from them and come back strong.”
“These kids are winners,” Gaitley said. “They are used to winning. They aren’t used to losing, so they have to learn. They’re going to learn from their leaders, and that includes me.”
Fordham picked up its first win of the season Tuesday night, defeating Mount St. Mary’s 61-37. The Rams and Mountaineers were close through part of the first half, but a 19-6 run to close out the half gave Fordham a 33-17 lead at halftime. This marked the first time all season the Rams led at halftime.
Mount St. Mary’s would not be able to close the gap any closer than 16, as the Fordham defense continued to dominate in the second half. The Rams would hold the Mountaineers to 30 percent shooting, marking their best defensive perfor- mance of the year. Fordham cruised to a 61-37 win to bring its record to 1-2 on the year.
Tapio had nine rebounds to go along with 19 points, tying her career high. Graduate student Tiffany Ruffin added 13 points on five of eight shooting as well.
“Tiffany set the tone offensive- ly,” Gaitley said after the win. “She looked confident, she got other players shots and Emily Tapio stepped up and had a terrific game as well.”
Fordham’s next game is at home against Hofstra on Friday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m.
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Matt Roselfeld is the Sports Editor for The Fordham Ram.
