After starting the season with a historic four-game winning streak, their best start since the 1995-96 season, the Fordham women’s basketball team endured a 3-game streak of the opposite kind, losing to Marquette, Yale and Stony Brook. With their record sitting barely above .500 at 5-4, the team responded in their second game of this home stand, beating the Southern University Jaguars by a score of 56-44. The victory was their sixth by a margin of seven or more, and their ninth contest to be decided by more than five.

Fordham’s latest win came on the backs of Erin Rooney, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’14, and Samantha Clark, FCRH ’16, whose career efforts this past Monday were maintaining the team’s winning record. Clark tallied 11 points and nine rebounds in the first half alone, finishing the game with 15 points and 13 rebounds, the first double-double for the women’s team yet this year. The second half was dominated by the guard Rooney, who tied her career high with 22 points after halftime, contributing four assists, five rebounds and three steals as well. Rooney’s 7-of-11 shooting made her one of only two players to shoot better than 50 percent for the game.

Despite the decisive margin of victory by Fordham, the game was actually well-contested for a long stretch, with Southern cutting the lead to two early in the fourth quarter. It was finally put away for the Rams when the team went on an 11-0 run, made possible by graduate student Marah Strickland, who contributed six points to the run, including four on a four-point play.

For all of the team’s eye-catching offensive stats, the Rams defense was stifling. They held Southern to a 34.5 percent field goal percentage and just 3-of-9 three-point shooting. The home team out-rebounded the visitors 44 to 30.

The win over the Jaguars, who fell to a record of 0-8, snapped the losing skid and gives the squad more than a fair shot at maintaining a winning record leading up to the in-conference games they play beginning in mid-January. For the Rams, who sport a 3-1 home record, the slate of upcoming games looks somewhat friendly. Three more home games come before the new year with two tilts against losing teams are immediately in store. Both Morgan State, with a record of 4-5, and Lafayette, somewhat worse off at 3-7, are set to visit the Bronx before year’s end. If the team can take these two winnable games, they will climb to an 8-4 record in time for the 2012 Fordham Holiday Classic.

For now, the Rams sport a hard-earned 6-4 record. If this Monday’s game was any sort of coming out party for the rookie Clark, this already strong team may well be on their way to greatness. A dominant winning record heading into conference play would boost their efforts, both in terms of momentum and daunting appearance.