Fordham Uses Late Run to Defeat Women's Basketball, 76-56, in Season Opener

Bronx, N.Y. - Tiffany Stokes scored 17 of her game-high 25 points in the second half and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Fordham past the UAlbany women's basketball team, 76-56, in the season opener for both schools on Friday evening at the Rose Hill Gymnasium. The score was tied at 49 with 8:25 left to play before the Rams went on a 27-7 run to end the game.

UAlbany (0-1), which won three of its final six games last season, started off strong by scoring the first five points of the game. After blocking a shot on the Rams' first possession, Keyana Williams converted a layup on the other end to put the Great Danes on the board. Charity Iromuanya followed up with a three-pointer on the next possession. Fordham rallied back to tie the match at five before the first media timeout. Randall Hurst provided all the scoring with a conventional three-point play and a layup.

After trading baskets, UAlbany went on a 9-0 run to force the Rams to burn a timeout. Sparked by Melia Basavand's trifecta from the right wing, all of the scoring during the stretch came from the Great Danes' bench.

Fordham (1-0), which posted an eight-win improvement last season, trimmed the lead down to a point, but Ebone Henry made a free throw and Felicia Johnson hit a jumper on a fast break to keep the Great Danes ahead at 19-15. The Rams kept fighting back and took their first lead at the 5:07 mark when Hurst drilled two free throws to break a 21-21 tie.

Stokes made a short jumper which allowed Fordham to extend its advantage to six points at 31-25, but the Great Danes continued to use its balanced scoring attack to rally and regain the lead. Johnson converted two free throws, and Basavand canned another three and a long jumper in the left corner with the back of her foot on the line to give the Great Danes a 32-31 advantage at the recess.

The second half was a seesaw battle at the beginning with four lead changes in the opening 2:17. Henry broke a 42-42 deadlock when she netted five straight points on two free throws and a shot from downtown. The Rams rallied once again and took the lead for good by scoring 12 straight points before Basavand drilled a three from NBA range at 4:39 to end the scoreless drought which lasted almost five minutes.

Basavand hit a pair of free throws to make it 65-54 with 2:56 on the clock, but that was the closest the Great Danes came the rest of the way. The Rams went ahead by 18 points on two occasions, and an uncontested layup on a fast break by Kyara Weeks sealed the final outcome.

In addition to Stokes, Fordham was led by Hurst who netted 22 points. Kristina Bell and Becky Peters netted eight and six points, respectively, and Kyara Weeks pulled down seven rebounds.

UAlbany, which used a balanced scoring attack and got 31 points from its bench, was paced by Basavand and Henry. Basavand scored a team-high 13 points on 4-of-9-shooting, while Henry contributed 10 points and a team-leading eight rebounds in 18 minutes of action. Johnson and Julie Forster contributed eight points apiece, and Iromuanya had a game-high four steals.

The Rams outshot the Great Danes, 54.7 percent (29-53) to 38.6 percent (22-57) from the floor. UAlbany outshot Fordham 29.4 percent (5-17) to 20 percent (1-5) from behind the arc and 77.8 percent (7-9) to 70.8 percent (17-24) at the charity stripe.

"We felt a lot of pressure and committed a lot of turnovers that were unforced late in the game," said head coach Trina Patterson. "I thought we played very well for 30 minutes, but that's not enough. We were up by one at halftime and lost by 20 because we got out of our scheme and started playing one-on-one ball. We need to stay in our systems if we want to be successful."
Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Information