Women’s Basketball Takes On St. Bonaventure, Loyola Chicago this Week

schedule page
game notes
Twitter updates on @FordhamWBB

Bronx, NY — Fordham (14-8, 6-3) remains on the road to start February with a meet at St. Bonaventure (4-20, 1-8) Wednesday night at 6 p.m. before returning home, to host Loyola Chicago (6-15, 1-7) on Saturday at 2 p.m

Play4Kay Pink Game/NGWSD

Saturday’s competition will be the team’s annual PINK game to honor and support those affected by breast cancer while raising money for breast cancer awareness and research. It’s also a belated celebration of National Day of Girls and Women in Sport, as the Rams will be in Olean tomorrow on the actual “holiday.” Fans interested in donating to the Play4Kay Foundation can do so at this link.

Ramses Challenge

Join the Ramses Challenge, a new philanthropic initiative to support our student-athletes! Pledge a set amount of money for each three-pointer or steal this year or make a one-time donation to the program. All proceeds are tax deductible and go directly to Fordham Women’s Basketball. Read more here. So far, the Rams have made 176 three-pointers and a whopping 195 steals! Thank you for all of your continued support!

last time out

The Rams fell 87-84 in Saint Louis Saturday, earning the highest combined score in the rule in the two schools’ 23-game history. The Billikens controlled the pace for much of the contest, blitzing Fordham for 49 first-half points, the fourth-highest for an opponent in program history. However, the visitors were just 11 behind at the break, as their offensive found its run, particularly in the third quarter, topping the hosts 31-16 with a 70.6% shot on target. The Rams took their first lead of the contest, trailing 69-65 in fourth place and heading for fourth place. A hectic final phase followed; The competition’s final media timeout was used for an official replay after just 75 seconds, and the two schools combined for just three field goals in the first four minutes. Kyla McMakin single-handedly brought the Billikens into halftime with a 12-2 start and scored 10 points, and Saint Louis would lead by as much as eight points. Converting just 6 of 14 free throws allowed the Rams some leeway and the visitors to progress Asiah Dingle, rallied furiously in the final minutes, the fifth-year guard hit a triple bench and then delivered two straight steals that led to baskets with less than a minute to play to level the game 84-84. However, Saint Louis would be fouled at the other end and end the rest of the game on free throws.

Dingle with 22 points and Anna DeWolfeat 21, led the offense with a 16-of-30 combined shooting, the latter hitting 5-of-6 three-point attempts. Kaitlyn Downey added 16 points, shooting 4 of 9 from deep, with eight rebounds and five assists Jada Dapaawho tied the game with a layup at the end, also grabbed eight boards with a season-high four assists, a tally equaled by Dingle and Sarah Karlell. The Billikens eventually outplayed the Rams 23-2 on second chance opportunities while scoring 50 points in the color.

series stories

St. Bonaventure — The all-time series has been 22-20 in the Bonnies’ favor since the Rams joined the A-10 in 1995-96 and were dominated by them for nearly two decades. Since 2013, however, Fordham has gone 12-2, including eight straight. St. Bonaventure has played in the Bronx for the past three January; This is the first game at Olean since 2/16/19, a 53-44 Fordham win. Last year the Rams won 62-54 in the Bronx.

Loyola Chicago – This is the third meeting ever between the two schools in which each team achieves a win. The first contest was held in the Bronx in January 1990, the year the Ramblers joined the MAAC conference and, ironically, the last year for Fordham in the league before jumping into the Patriot League. That was a 79-68 win for the Rams. The last game was at a Vanderbilt tournament in 1999, a 53-44 Loyola win.

iron women
Kaitlyn Downey set the program record for career starts last Sunday, her 127th, in her 133rd career appearance, third most of all time. Downey has never missed a competition and has completed all 135 performances in a row since arriving on Rose Hill. Anna DeWolfe amde

National speaking (as of 30.01.)

Fordham has played much faster this season, averaging 72.7 points per contest, which ranks 61st in the nation. The offense’s assists-to-turnover ratio of 1.12, third in the Atlantic 10, ranks 42nd nationally. The team’s recent dip from long range has taken the offense from 12th to 35th percentile at 8.1 hits per game from 48th place to 83rd place to now 33.7%. The Rams hand out the 62nd most assists per game (15.4) while committing just 13.7 turnovers per game, ranked 43rd. The offense also hits free throws at the 16th best rate (78.2%), though she scored the 342nd fewest attempts (11.45).

Individually, Asiah Dingle is eighth in steals per game, ninth in field goals and 23rd in points per game. Anna DeWolfe is 31st in points per game, 19th in total threes, 12th in field goals, 31st in threes per game, and 36th in minutes per game.

Triple D – DeWolfe, Dingle, Downey

Shut the front door! The Fordham trio was gnarly, righteous, dynamite and, perhaps most importantly, the bombshell dot-com. All three received Atlantic 10 All-Conference honors and were named at least A-10 Player of the Week in the past season. Together they accounted for 66.1% of the team’s score with a total of 40.2% shooting. You are the real deal. In the previous three games, these numbers are similar – 67.3% goals with 43.2% shooting. For context for the uninitiated, this entire blurb is an ode to Guy Fieri’s diners, drive-ins and dives.

Three 1,000 point scorers

With their tough turnaround jumper in the second quarter at Princeton, Kaitlyn Downey became the 25th Aries to score 1,000 points in program history. Now 15th with 1,194 points after passing three former Rams at Dayton, she joins Asiah Dingle (1,876 in three schools and five seasons) and Anna DeWolfe (1,703 – 5th largest in school history). Nationally, the Rams is one of 11 schools with three active student-athletes with 1,000 career points, despite being one of only two mid-major schools alongside UMass. Virginia Tech has four 1,000 point scorers.

Hungry like DeWolfe

The 2020-21 Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Year and two-time WBCA All-America Honorable Mention, Senior Anna DeWolfe averages 18.5 points per game with 43.0% overall shooting and 38.0% long-range shooting (60 of 158). She was named to the Preseason All-Conference First Team and was the 24th Ram to reach 1,000 career points on December 12, 2021 against Lafayette with a patent midfield jumper that hit nothing but the net and is now in fifth Place is -time with 1,703 points.

In her career, DeWolfe is fourth in 101 straight starts with 668 field goals, fourth with 219 three-pointers, fifth with a career average of 16.9 points per game, eighth with an average of 82.7% and has the All tied-time top-10 for career minutes played last Wednesday, now ninth with 3,715.

Dingle all the way

The Boston native has had as many as 131 career appearances in three schools and more than four seasons, now with 113 career starts, and has started all but one contest for Fordham since arriving. Dingle was a third-team All-Conference selection last year and is now a preseason second-team guest of honor. Dingle leads the team in scoring (19.5 points), assists (68), and steals (72) while shooting 45.3% from the floor, 34.3% from behind the arc and 77.9% at a team high of 86 free throw attempts. Their 72 steals are already the eighth highest in a campaign in program history.

During her career, she has 1,876 points, an average of 14.3 per game, 673 field goals, 298 steals and a 404 assists/424 turnovers ratio. She is a 42.9 percent career shooter averaging 4.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Prior to her arrival in the Bronx, Dingle was a 19.2 percent three-pointer on 104 career attempts. Last year she shot 18 of 64 (28.1%) and has continued to work on her long-range shot, this year shooting 34.3% on what was already a career-best 99 attempts.

Among active Division I players, she has been battling for steals all season alongside Michigan State’s Stephanie Visscher and Gardner-Webb’s Jhessyka Williams, but currently leads the state, 17 ahead of the latter. She is also 12th with 458 free throws and seventh with 631 attempts.

Princess of Thieves
Asiah Dingle played in her 50th Fordham game against Richmond last Wednesday, where she totaled eight steals, ranking second in program history. She of course owns the record set this year with 10 against St Peter’s and is currently eighth in program history at 72. Dingle is the Division I active leader in steals at a whopping 17, with 298. She’s had at least one steal in all but two contests this year and at least two in all but four, with 10 instances of four or more. Last year she had eight such games and is up to 31 for her four-year career.

Downey moves up

The graduate broke the program record for career starts at Saint Joseph’s Sunday with 127, surpassing Samantha Clark (’17) and has appeared in 135 consecutive contests since arriving in the Bronx. At Princeton earlier this season, she became the 25th Ram to reach 1,000 career points. She is now 15th at 1,194, overtaking Cecelia Wanker (’83), Hannah Missry (’17) and former teammate and now assistant coach Lauren Holden (’19) at Dayton. Against Wagner, she moved into the all-time top-10 for career rebounds, passing only Sharon Nast (’86) and her former teammate Kendell Heremaia (’22) in fifth place with 839. Also on Sunday, she became the ninth Ram to reach 200 career three-pointers, now she is eighth with 205.

Asiah and Co. steal the show

they thought Asiah Dingles Five steals in the season opener was a handful? She doubled that with a program record 10 against St. Peter and achieved her ninth and 10th straight with possession in the third quarter. Her previous best was six, which she had achieved several times throughout her career, including once with Fordham. The previous school record was eight, five times by four student-athletes, but not since Lauren Fleischer in 2001. Her teammates added 11 steals against the Peacocks to also set a new single-game team record at 21.

Next

Fordham will retaliate when it travels to reigning A10 champion UMass next Wednesday at 7pm before an eight-day break.