BRONX, N.Y. – For the Fordham women, opening night started out with an attractive challenge as defending NCAA tournament runner-up Notre Dame visited Rose Hill. In a tight and closely contested affair, the Irish exited with a 60-55 victory. A few points of emphasis:
1. Turnovers. Respective coaches Muffet McGraw of Notre Dame and Stephanie Gaitley of Fordham lamented the number of miscues on the night. Notre Dame committed 21, Fordham 16. The turnovers by the Rams were especially damaging. They had ten in a first half that saw them go into intermission with a 12-point deficit. The Rams had two Freshman guards, Anna DeWolfe and Sarah Karpell, in the rotation. Ironically, neither committed a turnover the first twenty minutes. Junior guard Kendell Heremaia had five. Heremaia settled down after the half committing only one more turnover while knocking down four three pointers. She tied teammate Bre Cavanaugh with 14 points. To little surprise, both coaches cited caring for the ball as something to be addressed the next few practices.
2. Fordham won the second half. Gaitley was pleased overall with the team effort. “I am proud the way the kids competed,” Gaitley said. “We won the second half (31-24), and a little better play especially the second period and the outcome might have been different.” The second period saw the Rams outscored 20-10. In fact, Fordham hit their first field goal when Kaitlyn Downey drained a three with 3:33 remaining. Chalk it up to a ten-minute stretch of poor shooting 18 of 22 (18 percent) and those turnovers.
3. Notre Dame is young and will get better. The Irish sent last year’s starting five to the WNBA. The leading returning scorer is sophomore guard Kaitlyn Gilbert (3.6 per game). The starting five never started a game at Notre Dame until last night. “We are very young, but have a mix of veterans who need to contribute,” McGraw said. “We didn’t even have an exhibition so this was our first game. Overall I am pleased with the win and the promise for this team.” Make no mistake, Notre Dame will improve and grow under McGraw’s watch. A return to the Final Four is probably out of the conversation, but this will be a team you will not want to see late season.
4. Fordham will be in the Atlantic 10 mix this season. The Rams captured the A-10 title last March. VCU as chosen as the conference favorite in preseason but the Bronx version of the Rams will be heard from. Cavanaugh led the team in scoring at 15.2 a game last Winter. Heremaia is a veteran with the ability to knock down the three. Downey and 6’ Megan Jonassen, who dew praise from McGraw, are veterans with size. As noted DeWolfe and Karpell are freshmen yet showed good poise in their collegiate debut. Then you can bank on Gaitley, in her ninth year at Rose Hill. An outstanding coach, her teams also improve as the season progresses and her defensive minded approach pays dividends at tournament time.
5. A sellout. Little surprise and very impressive that Rose Hill Gymnasium was sold out. McGraw scheduled a game with sophomore Danielle Cosgrove from nearby Holbrook, NY, getting a return home. McGraw also recruits the New Jersey Shore area aggressively, and keeping a New York area presence is essential. For Gaitley, it was a chance to open with a marquee nationally respected program. Granted, this is not the irish of the last few years, but they still enter the season number 16 in the polls and are definitely relevant. Both coaches agreed the exposure from this game was good for the women’s game in general. “Those who came out tonight for the first time had to be impressed,” Gaitley said. “This was definitely a positive in building fan interest.”
Fordham came up short. Their faithful had to be impressed with the efforts. And prospects for this campaign.
