Going up against the 12-8 Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) on Wednesday, Jan. 29, Fordham women’s basketball was looking for a major road win against a powerhouse team. Despite leading for nearly the entire first three quarters, the Rams fell late in the fourth quarter as VCU, Rams themselves, took a quick and defining lead. The final score was 62-52.

The first quarter was low-scoring, ending with Fordham up 14-6. The Rams held VCU to just two points until the three minute mark. To begin her 22-point night, Bryson Cavanaugh, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’20, drained a three to put the Rams up 8 points.

However, Fordham’s dominance began to wane after the first quarter. Although they hit their biggest lead of 10 points late in the third quarter, they were consistently outscored each quarter by VCU and couldn’t retain their lead. Only making 3 of 19 attempts from beyond the arc, Fordham couldn’t even muster a single three-pointer after halftime, missing on eight straight attempts.

VCU took the lead for the first time early in the third quarter after a layup by Danielle Hammond. Fordham tried to fight back, outscoring VCU by three points to end the third quarter, but VCU took the lead once again early in the fourth, and this time, ran away with it. Missed layups and rebounds by the Fordham players coupled with several personal fouls throughout the fourth quarter gave VCU the upper hand.

With 3 minutes and 5 seconds to go in the game, Fordham rallied and came within two points of VCU on a layup from Kendell Heremaia, FCRH ’20, but they couldn’t get the win by the time the clock ran out. After a missed three-point jumper with one minute remaining, all VCU needed to do was dribble out the clock.

Speaking after the game, Coach Stephanie Gaitley acknowledged the team’s three-point drought. “We weren’t shooting well,” she said, instead suggesting, “Let’s attack the basket.”

The VCU Rams advanced to 12-8 overall and 7-0 in the Atlantic 10. Meanwhile, Fordham fell to 12-8 overall and 4-3 in the conference. As they look ahead to snap their two-game losing streak, Fordham’s next game will be on Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. in the Rose Hill Gymnasium as they take on LaSalle.

Cavanaugh said she knew Fordham women’s basketball had “a tough three games ahead of us” going into a difficult stretch in their schedule against Saint Louis University, Dayton University and VCU. Regardless of the results in those games, she insisted that the team would remain hungry in games to come.