The road was always going to be a little bumpy. Fordham Women’s Basketball suffered their first roadblock of the season, coming in the form of a lopsided defeat at the hands of the University of Miami. While the on-court product has been far from perfect, a 2-1 start through three games is nothing to sneeze at.
The Rams opened up their season with a 27-point victory against a Division II Adelphi University program. While it was a strong first effort, highlighted by tenacious defense and a career game for graduate student transfer Emy Hayford, there was a caveat looming over the win. It’s easy to look good against a non-DI program. But how will you fare against more even competition?
Fordham would have the chance to answer that question on Friday, going toe to toe with a fellow DI program in the University of Albany. Returning much of their roster from the last two seasons, namely their top two scorers in First Team All-Conference selections Kayla Cooper and Helene Haegerstrand, they posed a threat as a deep and experienced group.
On a more personal level, UAlbany’s trek down to the Bronx meant a homecoming for graduate student guard Sarah Karpell, who spent four seasons at Rose Hill as a reliable starter in Fordham’s back court. With several of her former teammates on hand to watch the game, Karpell slotted into the Albany starting lineup, coming off a 17-point performance in her Danes debut that fell just one point shy of tying her career high.
The game also marked the Fordham debut for junior transfer Taya Davis, who was ineligible for the season opener against Adelphi.
It was a tightly contested affair, but Fordham emerged victorious with a gritty 66-63 win to improve to 2-0. Once again, it was Hayford leading the charge.
Following up a career-high 18-point performance in her season opener against Adelphi, the University of Pittsburgh transfer outdid herself, scoring a game-high 22 points.
The Rams would need every point in a tightly contested battle that saw the lead change hands 24 times. With both sides trading buckets for most of the game, graduate student Mandy McGurk sank a three to give Fordhm a one-point lead as the clock ticked under three minutes in the fourth. Cooper responded with a layup to retake the lead for Albany, but the Rams snatched it right back on two clutch free throws from senior Taylor Donaldson.
Following McGurk’s three, seven of Fordham’s nine points would come from the charity stripe, as the Rams went 7-8 from the line in the final two minutes, including two perfect trips from Donaldson, to ice the game.
Donaldson posted her second straight double digit output with 14 points and was clutch from the line when it counted. Senior Aminata Ly also added 10 points and a pair of blocks on the defensive end, while Davis added two points and seven assists in her first game as a Ram.
For the second game in a row, Fordham struggled from beyond the arc as a whole, going 4-16 from deep. Yet again, it didn’t seem to hurt them as the Rams found scoring lanes inside, getting 34 of their 66 points from inside the paint. The paint domination applied to both sides of the court as Fordham limited Albany to just 14 points inside the paint.
Karpell played a game-high 38 minutes in her return, hitting a three but scoring just five points as Fordham was able to limit the Great Danes’ offensive impact across the board. The Rams drew Albany into a physical, sometimes ugly style of play, forcing 10 turnovers and always keeping things close.
That would not be the case when the Rams traveled south to Florida to take on Miami. Yes, the same Miami that, led by the Cavinder twins and Destiny Harden, reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament in March.
While I can’t attest to the weather in Florida on Sunday, it certainly wasn’t all sun and rainbows for the Rams inside the Watsco Center, falling in blowout fashion to the Hurricanes 78-39.
Donaldson nailed two threes and all eight of Fordham’s points in the first quarter as the Rams found themselves trailing just 12-8 with 3:37 left in the first quarter. It would never be that close again. Miami scored the last 11 points of the quarter to lead 23-8 at the close of the first quarter and tacked on another 21 in the second, culminating in a 44-16 lead at halftime. The Rams showed some life at the end with a 14-point fourth quarter, their first time scoring double digits in a single quarter all game, but the Hurricanes still came away with a 39-point victory.
The Fordham offense fell victim to a vicious Miami full-court press. Unable to move the ball up consistently, the Rams turned the ball over 31 times, resulting in 30 points off turnovers for the Hurricanes. When Fordham was able to get into their offensive sets, they were stymied by an athletic Miami defense that held them to just 27.9% shooting from the field.
Head coach Bridgette Mitchell preaches defense, but the Rams were overmatched by a far more dynamic Hurricanes offense. Sophomore Lemyah Hylton led the offensive attack with 17 points, 15 of which came on three balls.
Donaldson was a bright spot offensively, notching her third straight double digit performance with a team-high 13 points, including three makes from beyond the arc.
Even the most optimistic Fordham fans probably didn’t expect a win against an excellent Miami team. Last year’s squad managed an impressive eight-point loss to a ranked University of Maryland team, and even that felt like a major surprise. Throwing the outcome aside for now, there’s still plenty to take away from this weekend.
After some questions over who would take the reins of the offense, the early answer seems to be the combination of Hayford and Donaldson. Hayford has been off to a phenomenal start, averaging 15.3 on 43% shooting. Donaldson’s right behind her at 13.0 points per game. While efficiency has plagued her to start, as seen in her 29% shooting percentage, she’s been a confident scorer and has proven herself capable of being a threat from beyond the arc.
Miami was able to key in on Hayford, holding her to just six points as she made just three of 13 shots. While Fordham might not run into many teams like Miami, they may need to find some more scoring from their supporting cast, particularly when they clash with some of the top defenses in the Atlantic 10.
Fordham returns home to play Manhattan College on Thursday in the Battle of the Bronx, beginning a stretch of five straight games at Rose Hill.