To find the last time Fordham Women’s Basketball had won a road game, you’d have to go back 359 days, Feb. 25 of last year to be specific. But after this weekend, that date no longer holds any relevance as the Rams traveled to Olean, N.Y., and returned with a resounding 22-point victory.
Stacking wins for the first time since November, Fordham was rewarded with six days off. Their final bye week would set them up for one final five-game stretch to close the regular season, starting with a Sunday road matchup against St. Bonaventure University.
With the University of Dayton and La Salle University losing earlier in the week, both falling to 4-10 in the conference, Fordham moved into sole possession of 10th place with their 4-9 Atlantic 10 record. With a 4-20 Bonnies team across from them that had dropped 12 consecutive games, the Rams were presented with another golden opportunity to continue their late ascent up the A-10.
For the third consecutive game, the Rams came out hot to start, taking a 17-6 lead on junior Taya Davis’s eight first-quarter points. It was not a fiery start for St. Bonaventure, who managed to shoot just 1-18 from the field in the opening frame.
The Bonnies rebounded in the second, outscoring the Rams 12-10, but still found themselves trailing by nine at halftime.
Any hope for a competitive game, however, was quickly snuffed out in the third quarter as Fordham put up 30 points, led once again by Davis with nine points in the frame. On the whole, it was a balanced offensive attack, with contributions from senior Taylor Donaldson, graduate student Emy Hayford and sophomore Rose Nelson helping the Rams shoot a whopping 11-15 from the field, good for over 70% efficiency.
Taking a massive lead into the fourth quarter, the Rams would cruise to an easy finish, defeating the Bonnies 70-48 for their first road victory of the season. The win not only snapped an 0-10 skid on the road — it also marked Fordham’s third straight double-digit victory, following routes of Dayton and the University of Massachusetts.
Davis was far and away the star of the game, posting a career-high 25 points. Shooting 9-12 from the field and 7-10 from the line, Davis reached double figures for just the fourth time this season, surpassing the 20-point mark for the first time. Making the leap to the D1 level after two years at junior college has not always made for the easiest of transitions, but the 5-foot-7 junior has settled in nicely, and the offensive explosion was a welcome sight.
Donaldson and Hayford contributed 12 apiece, continuing a pleasant trend of balanced offensive attacks. Nelson notably posted seven points, nailing the first 3-pointer of her collegiate career, and paired it with seven rebounds and three blocks in 29 minutes played. The sophomore continues to play the best basketball of her career, recording a career-high three blocks in four of her last six games and averaging 6.8 PPG over her last four.
While much should rightfully be said about Fordham’s improved offense, it would be negligent to omit mention of one of their finest defensive performances to date. With the Bonnies limited to a seven-man rotation, the Rams held them to a season-low 20% field goal percentage, as Bonaventure’s leading scorer Dani Haskell shot just 2-15 from the field and 1-11 from deep. The Rams were not sharp from three, shooting 3-17, but it paled in comparison to St. Bonaventure, who managed just three makes on a season-high 30 three-pointers attempted.
With the road woes finally off their back, Fordham enjoyed their first three-game winning streak in conference play and just their second overall. The winning ways came at the perfect time as the Rams now find themselves firmly in contention for a first-round bye in the A-10 tournament.
Sunday’s win isn’t enough to push Fordham into the top nine of the A-10, the necessary seeding for earning an automatic bid to the second round, but it does put them right where they need to be with four games left to go. At 5-9 in the conference, the Rams sit a half-game back from ninth-place Loyola Chicago University and just one game back from eighth-place Saint Louis University.
As fate would have it, Saint Louis is next on the docket for the Rams, who return home for a Wednesday matchup against the Billikens. More difficult games lie on the horizon with Davidson College and St. Joseph’s University to follow, but Fordham’s not in a position to start thinking too far ahead. All they can do is take things one game at a time and hope for the best.
