Strong Second Half Not Enough as Minutewomen Fall to Fordham

BRONX, N.Y. – University of Massachusetts women's basketball mounted a strong second half performance after being faced with a 20-point deficit, but the effort was not enough in the end as the Minutewomen were downed by Fordham, 76-64, on Sunday afternoon at Rose Hill Gymnasium. UMass drops to 13-15 with the loss and 5-9 against Atlantic 10 opponents, while the Rams are now 20-8 and 11-3 in the league.

Playing in her native New York City for the first time as a Minutewoman, freshman Destiney Philoxy sparked Massachusetts over her 31 minutes with a career-high 26 points to go with five assists, four rebounds and a steal. It marked Philoxy's second consecutive 20-plus point performance after putting down 24 against George Washington on Wed., Feb. 20.

Junior Hailey Leidel turned in 18 points and five rebounds, eclipsing the 500-rebound mark in her UMass career. In doing so, Leidel became the 17th player in program history to record both 1,000 points and 500 rebounds and the first since Kim Pierre-Louis from 2011-15.

A total of 15 of Philoxy's 26 points came in the final 20 minutes as a UMass comeback appeared to be in the cards. Senior Jessica George capped a quick 9-2 third quarter run with 2:02 as the Minutewomen narrowed the deficit to 10. The sides exchanged baskets well into the fourth, seeing the margin once again down to 10 points, but Massachusetts would be unable to get any closer.

Fordham shot lights out in the first half, including draining four consecutive three-pointers and taking a 12-0 lead at the 7:06 mark of the first quarter. From there Philoxy put together a perfect 6-of-6 showing from the free throw line in the quarter as the Minutewomen began to claw back. But an 8-of-14 second period clip from the field propelled the Rams back to an 18-point lead and a 46-28 advantage heading into halftime.

The Rams tallied three double-digit scorers, led by a game-high 27 points from Bre Cavanaugh and 15 apiece by Kaitlyn Downey and Mary Goulding. Cavanaugh added eight boards in the win.

Massachusetts plays its final home game of the regular season on Wed., Feb. 27, welcoming Richmond to the Mullins Center for a 7 p.m. game.

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Scoreboard

Strong Second Half Not Enough as Minutewomen Fall to Fordham

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Team Stats

Destiney Philoxy

Hailey Leidel

Vashnie Perry

Jessica Nelson

Players Mentioned

Jessica George

Hailey Leidel

Destiney Philoxy

Players Mentioned

Jessica George

Hailey Leidel

Destiney Philoxy

Scoreboard

University of Massachusets Athletics