Fordham 54, St. Bonaventure 51: Ray Floriani's Tempo-Free Analysis

Fordham cheerleaders entertain the crowd at Rose Hill Gym. (Photo courtesy of Ray Floriani)

Bronx, NY - The Fordham women led for 35 minutes, and were ultimately forced to pull out a 54-51 victory over St. Bonaventure at Rose Hill on Thursday. The Bonnies came back to lead by three with just under two minutes to play before the Rams rallied to seal the verdict. The pace and efficiency:

Possessions: St. Bonaventure 69, Fordham 68

Offensive Efficiency: Fordham 79, St. Bonaventure 74

The Four Factors:

eFG%: Fordham 39, St. Bonaventure 35

FT Rate: Fordham 33, St. Bonaventure 22

OREB%: Fordham 28, St. Bonaventure 28

TO Rate: Fordham 22, St. Bonaventure 22

What St. Bonaventure did well: Enjoy a more efficient second half. At intermission, the Bonnies trailed 24-17. It could have been worse. Their offensive efficiency was 46. The turnover rate almost matched with a 32% mark. The second half saw the Bonnies post a 102 efficiency and commit just three turnovers.

What Fordham did well: Defend Katie Healy. The Bonnies' leading scorer, at just shy of 15 points a game, was held to four points on a 2-of-11 shooting performance from the floor. The Rams also got themselves in a position to get to the line as they clearly came out ahead in free throw rate.

Scoring and Efficiency Leaders:

St. Bonaventure: Imani Outlaw (14 points, OE .600)

Fordham: Hannah Missry (15 points, OE .625)

Emily Tapio had a solid 13-point, game-high 17-rebound effort for Fordham. Samantha Clark added a strong 14-point, 8-rebound, 2-assist, zero-turnover effort in the post for the Rams. Clark was an extremely efficient .727 (OE) while Tapio was impressive as well at .667.

St. Bonaventure’s Healy, a 6-1 junior, had a rough going. She committed four turnovers in addition to the aforementioned struggles from the field. Healy finished with an OE of .267, which further illustrates the off night she had. The Bonnies led 23-6 in bench scoring, a good sign despite Healy's offensive struggles.

St. Bonaventure is 2-8 in Atlantic 10 play, while Fordham is now 8-2 in conference play.

“They (Fordham) did a good job shutting Katie (Healy) down, but we had several players step up, which was a good sign for us.” St. Bonaventure coach Jim Crowley

“We did a good job on (Katie) Healy in the lane. Then Jim (coach Crowley) went small, and that helped them get back in it.” – Fordham coach Stephanie Gaitley