(Bronx, N.Y.) – Trailing by 16 at halftime, thanks to guard Hannah Missry totaling 20 of her career-high 30 points (10-of-18) in the opening stanza for the Fordham Rams (3-4), the Delaware State women's basketball team (1-7) nearly erased an 20-point deficit with a 27-point output in the third quarter, but it was not enough as the Lady Hornets suffered a 74-58 road loss. 

With this defeat, DSU failed to register back-to-back road wins for the first time since 2012-13, whereas the Rams snapped a three-game slide

The first half for Fordham not only featured Missry going 6-for-12 (.500) from beyond the arc, but center Samantha Clark tallied all nine (4-for-5) of her first half points in the opening 10 minutes.  Delaware State, on the other hand, saw its top leading scorers in forward Amber Bogard (10.1 ppg), Mikah Aldridge (9.7 ppg) and guard/forward NaJai Pollard (8.0 ppg) all pick up at least two fouls, while as a team, DSU was limited to 32 percent (7-of-21) shooting.  Despite the foul trouble, Aldridge tallied 11 points on a perfect output from the field (4-for-4) and the charity stripe (3-for-3).

After intermission, the Lady Hornets began the third quarter on a resounding 19-4 run in the first 5:16, capped off by a Bobbi Floyd layup to make it a 44-42 contest.  During this stretch, Aldridge scored nine points, including draining her lone 3-pointer of the afternoon.  As the third quarter progressed, Delaware State made it a one-point contest on two separate occasions, with the last coming thanks to an Aldridge floater in the lane to make it a 51-50 ball game heading into the fourth quarter.

“We tried to isolate some of their players by trying some different things on the defensive end such as going to a box-and-one on Missry,” said head coach Barbara Burgess of team's defensive effort to force seven turnovers and limit Missry to no points.  “That really got us back in the game, because they started turning the ball over, which we ended up capitalizing on.”   

Unfortunately, DSU failed to carry over its strong third quarter play to the final 10 minutes, as the Rams erupted on a 12-2 run in the opening 3:09, thanks in large part to leading scorer G'mrice Davis (11.5 ppg) tallying six of her 12 points (3-of-8) during this stretch.  After Delaware State got the deficit back to digits with a Bogard layup at the 4:19 mark, the Rams responded by ending the game on another 12-2 run, which featured Missry scoring 10 points.        

“The effort was there in the second half, especially in the third quarter, but I think the nerves got the best of us in the first half,” stated Burgess.  “We just got to do a better job of sustaining a strong level of play throughout an entire 40-minute ball game.”

When the final buzzer sounded, three players scored in double figures for the Lady Hornets, led by Aldridge totaling a career-high 24 points (6-of-9).  Aldridge also went a perfect 10-for-10 from the charity stripe, which marked the second time in the last three games she's been perfect while registering double digit attempts and makes at the line.  Off the bench, Bogard tallied 11 points (4-of-13), whereas Floyd turned in her best performance of the season with 10 points (4-of-5) and seven boards.

In the case of Fordham, Missry drained eight 3-pointers, falling one shy of tying a program single-game record.  Clark, meanwhile, finished 15 points (7-of-8), whereas Davis pulled down a game-high 10 boards for her third double-double of the season.

Coming up, the Columbia Blue & Red will return to action on Dec. 13 (3 p.m.) at home against Wagner.  This will be the first meeting between the two programs.

Stingers

DSU shot 52 percent (12-of-23) in the second half, despite being outscored 23-8 in the fourth quarter… The Lady Hornets are now 0-3 all-time against Fordham… Saturday's game marked the second consecutive time in as many as games more than one player scored in double figures… Both teams finished with 20 points off turnovers, whereas DSU outscored the Rams in points off the bench (24-7)… The Lady Hornets outscored Fordham in points in the paint, 26-18… DSU tied a season-high for 3-pointers made (5)… Fordham won the battle on the boards, 40-24… The Lady Hornets shot 89 percent (15-of-17) from the charity stripe.