November 18th, 2018: Charlotte at Fordham

Just the Facts, Ma'am: Mary Goulding scored 16 second-half points, and added 12 rebounds, to power Fordham to a comeback win over Charlotte. Bre Cavanaugh had a team-high 20 points for the Rams. Jade Phillips had 23 points to lead Charlotte in the loss, with Jazmin Harris adding 20 off the bench.

For freshmen, Kiwis, hitting the deck, celebrity sightings, dubious calls, and terrible jackets, join your intrepid blogger after the jump.

Good afternoon, basketball fans! We're coming to you from historic Rose Hill Gymnasium on the campus of Fordham University, where the Rams will be taking on the 49ers of Charlotte as a break between two games of a men's tournament. I may be slightly salty about this, but on the other hand, we're getting basically a free half of basketball (between Youngstown State and Florida International) as an appetizer, so I can't be too mad. It's pretty competitive.

Unfortunately, I think Halei Gillis is hurt again, which might explain some of our issues, since we don't have much of a post presence with the unexpected departure of Johanna Klug.

Florida International pulled away in the end, by the way. They have a driving guard, Brian Beard, who took the game over with 36 points. I was impressed. But it's on to what is for us the main event.

I'm about 90% certain I spotted Swin Cash, husband, and kidlet in the crowd. Well, it makes sense, with Tanisha Wright as an assistant for Charlotte.

Good Lord, there are a lot of blondes with ponytails on this year's Fordham squad. At least some of them have different hairstyles, and we do have a few non-blondes (and, y'know, people of color).

Under Armour doesn't pull off the camo shooting shirts well, at least not in maroon.

Yes, I can turn my wrist like a stir-fry, thanks for asking. I have, in fact, made a stir-fry.

No anthem, since this was the second of three consecutive games. Band has arrived for the Fordham portion of the program, and they are rocking it.

Given that our defense is anchorless and we have almost no height worth mentioning, I'm actually sort of relieved that we're only down 36-29 at the break. Bre Cavanaugh is doing Bre things, with 11 points and five rebounds. Jazmin Harris has made a splash off the bench for Charlotte, with 10 points in nine minutes.

Yes, that is definitely Swin, because that is most definitely T-Spoon, and that is also Kristin Bernert. (I still love my Libs. It's just going to be a long-distance relationship until the team is out of That Dump.) And that is also Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe. (It went essentially: "That looks like Bird, but I don't think it's her." *notices platinum blonde sitting next to her*)

I was expecting us to miss G'mrice Davis's presence. I didn't realize how badly we'd be hurting for Johanna Klug's, especially with Halei hurt.

And then Kiwis happened.

Okay, okay, you're going to get somewhat more detail than that. If nothing else, that doesn't really define Charlotte all that well.

I guess Jada McMillian was the player who came in when Lauren Hurley fouled out, since she didn't play very much and I don't remember her. Ka'Neeshia Brown got some run in the first quarter as a long forward. Christian Hithe didn't make a noticeable impact.

Oh my goodness, Jazmin Harris. I can't believe she's only a true freshman. She has such a soft shooting touch for a big post, and she moves so well, and she has such a sense of where to be on the floor. I keep thinking there's no way she can stay this good, that she's going to hit the wall at some point, but if she doesn't, Charlotte's got something special in her. Mariah Linney got the guard minutes off the bench in the second half. She showed a tendency to throw elbows in the first half, but toned it down more in the second.

Dara Pearson somehow managed to get her first name pronounced three different ways in the course of the game. Like many of Charlotte's players, she's long and lanky. That may not have been the right match-up for this game. Octavia Jett-Wilson did some nice work boxing out in the early going. Lauren Harley drove the lane for lay-ups, and at the end of the game, she seemed to be the only player interested in fouling Fordham. Now, whether that's because Charlotte was ready to concede and she didn't want to, or because she was the only one keeping track of the fouls and the clock, I'm not sure.

Laia Raventós ran the Charlotte offense fairly smoothly- there were some stretches where her passes were a little too enthusiastic for her teammates to handle, but overall she was pretty impressive at the point. Jade Phillips was the focal point of the offense, going to the rack for lay-ups. She had stuff spin in and out a few times, but she also took a lot of contested shots once the defense learned how to collapse on her.

Charlotte, for the most part, seems to go for the long and skinny type, with the notable exception of Harris. Their end-game clock management needs work.

Alexa Giuliano came off the bench in the first half, played maybe three possessions, and came off having a lively discussion with Coach Gaitley. I have no idea what it was about. Vilisi Tavui looked way out of her depth, which is a problem since she's one of our few tall players right now. Extremely not good. Catherine Polisano gave pretty good minutes at guard in the first half- not great, but pretty solid and heady.

I was impressed with Megan Jonasson's offensive rebounding. She's already showing the kind of heart and hustle we know Fordham best for. She still needs work, but she seems to be developing well. Zara Jillings took over in the fourth quarter with a little scoring burst and the kind of tough-nosed defense we've come to expect from her. She came in and shut down whoever she was assigned to.

Bre Cavanaugh stepped up in the second and third quarters. She's such a Swiss Army knife on offense. Her rebounding has picked up from last year, which makes her even more dangerous. I love her potential. I love what she's already doing for us. I'm going to continue to side-eye those shots that Lauren Holden persists in taking from somewhere in the vicinity of Cape May, because while they stretch the opposing defense, they're not very accurate, and sometimes we need more accuracy than we need spacing. Maybe it was just this game, but something was off about her. Kendell Heremaia did not cover herself with glory in the early going, with careless fouls and uncharacteristic defensive lapses (I don't often see people blow right past Kendell going to the basket). But in the fourth quarte,r she found her stroke, and it was glorious.

I really hope this was an uncharacteristically awful game from Kaitlyn Downey, because otherwise I have no idea why she's starting. Her shot was terrible and came entirely too often. She couldn't get lift on it, but that didn't stop her from putting it up. It was extremely not good, to put it lightly. She looked lost and out of her depth. And then Kiwis happened. In the fourth quarter, Mary Goulding put on her cape and got to work. Everything she touched went into the basket. She laid down monster blocks and pulled down big boards. She doesn't do what you want her to do all the time, but she does what you need her to do. She was the biggest reason we were able to come back in this game. I just.

Look, I said Kiwis happened, and for the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, the only points we got were from our three New Zealand natives. The rest of the squad arrived in time, but Kenny, Zara, and especially Mary came through big time.

Seriously, though, this is Division I basketball, not streetball. The rules are not "no blood, no foul". It's possible to call things other than jump balls.

I'm deeply concerned about our defense, and our lack of height. You probably guessed that by now, though. But we have players who can step up when the team needs them.