January 17th, 2016: St. Joseph's at Fordham

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Fordham jumped out to a big lead and held on for a 47-40 win against St. Joseph's. Danielle Burns had 13 points to lead all scorers, while Samantha Clark and G'mrice Davis each had 12 rebounds for Fordham. Ciara Andrews, Amanda Fioravanti, and Chelsea Woods each had 8 to lead St. Joseph's.

For travel connections, things on fire that are not shooting, questionable decisions, loud signs, and delays, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.


Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! We're at historic Rose Hill Gymnasium today, as the Rams of Fordham host the undying Hawks of St. Joseph's. If you hear loud noises coming from behind the Fordham bench, that would be us. We're here and we're ready to cheer.

Place is filling up pretty nicely. I think they called in all their youth group and CYO chips to make the place look good.

The Hawk is here. I think the suit's starting to wear a little bit.

At halftime, Fordham is up 32-19, after turning a 20-2 lead into a close game. G'mrice Davis and Danielle Burns each have 10 points for the Rams, with Davis adding eight boards. Fordham got up big and then got sloppy, and St. Joseph's was willing to take advantage.

That was not a great game to watch. Neither of these teams is very good, nor is either of them very organized. Neither style meshes well with the new rules. If this weren't a rivalry game, it would have had no place being televised.

The Hawks basically went two deep on their bench. Michala Clay and Sarah Veilleux played briefly in the first half, but when it came down to crunch time, the two reserves they went with were forward Amanda Fioravanti and guard Chelsea Woods. Fioravanti was solid all around, especially strong in the paint. She plays the angles well. Woods came up with baskets at the rim and drove the lane well.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick is super fast, and uses that speed well on defense. She made life miserable for Lauren Holden bringing the ball up, including picking up a really nifty steal in the third quarter when Holden was sure she had a break. If her puck luck had been better, St. Joe's might have had a chance. She had a lot of shots rim out or otherwise juuuuuuuust miss. Man, I like her defense, though. Alyssa Monaghan came on stronger in the second half, although perhaps feistier might be a better word; she showed a lot more of the scrappiness you usually see out of smaller players at higher levels. Ciara Andrews was quiet for most of the game, but came up with baskets very late- there was one I thought they were reviewing to see if it was a three.

Adashia Franklyn (which I'm pretty sure is not actually pronounced Asia) showed flashes of solid physical play, but she got into a little bit of foul trouble. I think the first, very early, foul, took her out of the game mentally. G'mrice Davis certainly didn't help. Sarah Fairbanks hit physically improbable shots, getting in the general vicinity of the lane and using the glass. She missed quite a few of those shots as well, and when she missed, they were ugly. I like her toughness.

Fordham really didn't dig deep into their bench. It didn't help that Asnate Fomina, the starting point guard, didn't play, and thus the sparkplug off the bench had to be the starter. Alexia Douglas stepped into the role of backup point guard, and she did tolerably well at it, at least as well as her fellow freshman. She looked a little lost, but I'm not surprised. I don't know what Danielle Padovano was supposed to bring off the bench, but whatever it was, she wasn't doing it. She showed no hustle, no effort, nothing but an ill-advised three-point attempt.

Lauren Holden is nice as a spark off the bench, but she's not ready for primetime yet. She looked lost, especially against the bigger and faster Fitzpatrick, and had a lot of trouble setting up the offense. She made poor decisions with the ball, whether it was jacking up a three after three of her teammates had hit one, or passing the ball directly to Fitzpatrick cutting into the passing lane. Hannah Missry was hot in the second quarter from three, and when she's feeling her three-pointer, she's more confident from the rest of the floor- she had a nice drive that she followed on the miss. In the second half, her shooting cooled off, and late in the game she and G'mrice Davis both crashed into the courtside seats (with some help from St. Joe's). She looked a little woozy when she got up, but she stayed in the game after the timeout. That worried me.

Danielle Burns was hot early, both beyond the arc and in the lane. I like her versatility. I don't like her tendency to shoot for the foul instead of attempting to hit the shot. G'mrice Davis was strong in the paint, especially in the early going. She's really good, and she's really stifled in this system. It doesn't play to her strengths. Samantha Clark came up with boards throughout most of the game (though she and her teammates had trouble hanging on to rebounds as the game progressed) and hit her free throws late. I know she's got range, and I know much of Fordham's offense is predicated on the long ball, but I do like her better when she's posting up. The way she moves her feet and makes herself a target, I'm always surprised that we don't see more post offense from her.

Things I do not understand: why does Fordham persist on inbounding into the backcourt? Some team that pressures even more than St. Joe's does will take advantage of that and do terrible things to the Fordham offense. Things even more terrible than the Fordham offense does to itself, I mean. Also, why does no one move without the ball? The little Xs and Os are not permanent locations!

I think the game may have left these two coaches behind a bit. It's hard to win if you only have four players scoring. It's harder to win if you can't hit the broad side of a barn.