NEW YORK – Holding a slim lead through 10 minutes of play, the Rams turned on the afterburners and never look back as Fordham University women’s basketball defeated Siena, 90-51, at the Rose Hill Gym.
Saturday’s 39-point victory marks the fifth time under Head Coach Bridgette Mitchell that the Rams have recorded a win by 25 or more points. Fordham improves to 3-3 on the year while Siena drops to 0-4 this season.
Leading by eight after one quarter of play, Fordham held the Saints to single digits in the second quarter, stretching a 31-point advantage heading into halftime. Siena would have a strong second quarter, doubling their point total, before the Rams held the Saints to just eight points in the fourth.
Fordham owned the paint all night, with nearly two-thirds of their points coming down low, beating the Saints 58-20 in paint points. A number of those attempts came on second chance efforts, which the Rams led 18-9, pulling down 20 offensive rebounds, and pacing the efforts on the boards with 51 total compared to 32 by Siena.
A quartet of Rams finished in double figures Saturday night, highlighted by Taylor Donaldson’s 19 points on an even 50% shooting, surpassing 1,000 career points in the first quarter. Irene Murua would tally 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, ahead of a 5-of-8 day for Emma Wilson-Saltos, finishing with 12 points, and Taya Davis rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10 points of her own.
Davis led the Rams with six assists and paced the impressive rebounding effort for Fordham with eight boards, ahead of Murua, one of three Rams to pull down six rebounds along with Kaila Berry and Karissa Antoine.
Siena took a slim 6-2 lead to start the night, quickly answered by the Rams, who tallied 12 unanswered points to pull ahead 14-6 with three minutes to play in the opening frame. Fordham extended that run to 21-9 the rest of the way, led by Donaldson with six points, including a successful and-one attempt to surpass 1,000 points for her career.
Putting pedal to metal in the second quarter, the Maroon and White owned the final ten minutes of the first half, holding Siena to just five points, while scoring 28 of their own, the most in any single quarter this season. Donaldson and Murua would pace the offense, both ending the half in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively, with Murua shooting a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor.
The Rams dominated under the basket, leading 34-10 in paint points at the end of the half and outscored the Saints 19-6 on the fast break. Fordham also held Siena without a make from behind the three-point line, with the visitors shooting 0-10 in the half. Taking a staggering 31-point lead into the locker room, 51-20 at halftime, the Rams made sure to capitalize on Siena’s mistakes throughout, forcing 16 turnovers in the first half and scoring 20 points off those miscues.
More than doubling their point total for the game in just the third quarter, Siena would tally 23 points out of the locker room, outscoring the Rams by seven in the period. The Saints cut their deficit to as little as 18, but would not get any closer than that the rest of the way, with Fordham keeping strong down the stretch and into the fourth quarter.
Fordham got right back to business in the fourth, besting Siena 23-8 in the final 10 minutes of action, pulling ahead with their biggest lead of the night as the final score, a 39-point victory. Fordham’s defense held the Saints to just 4-of-22 from three-point land, and 24.6% shooting for the game.
Following the Thanksgiving break, the Maroon and White will be back in action next Sunday afternoon, Dec. 1 when they head over to Brooklyn for an Interborough showdown with LIU.
