Women's Basketball Falls to Fordham

Saturday, January 5

Washington, D.C.

11 a.m.

George Washington University

3-11 (0-1)

Fordham

10-5 (1-0)

Fordham

George Washington

Photo by: AP

1/5/2019 1:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Mokwuah tallies career-high 13 points in A-10 opener

WASHINGTON - A nationally televised game to open A-10 season for the George Washington women's basketball team had the Colonials faithful up early for the 11 a.m. tip against the visiting Fordham Rams. Unfortunately for the home team, their offense didn't quite get up in time. Fordham led wire-to-wire and after a 20-4 start for the Bronx squad, despite the fact that GW actually won the rest of the game (34-30), it was too late.

The Rams led 23-12 after the first quarter and 46-22 after three, rendering the GW reserves' efforts moot in the fourth. First-year Kayla Mokwuah led GW in scoring with a career-high 13 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, while sophomore Neila Luma netted a dozen in her role coming off the bench. All told, GW's second unit outscored its starters 31-7 and Fordham's bench 31-2, but that game-within-the-game wasn't the story.

Fordham entered Saturday's A-10 opener riding a four-game winning streak with triumphs over Columbia, Iona, Maine (in overtime) and last time out against Middle Tennessee, and now leaves the District with that streak at five. After earning the league's top overall mark during non-conference play, the Rams showed why they'll be a force to be reckoned with in search of the conference's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament in March.

The Rams' Bre Cavanaugh came to GW as the reigning A-10 co-Player of the Week after averaging 17.0 ppg and 9.0 rpg in a pair of games last week, and while she struggled a bit from the field thanks to the GW defense (4-of-17), her 12-point, 10-rebound double-double was the work of one of the conference's best. Fordham came in boasting an average of 7.0 made 3-pointers per game, second-most in the league, and easily eclipsed that number with 10 on Saturday morning.

They also showcased their sterling ball control, as the nation's fourth-best team in terms of fewest turnovers only coughed the ball up 10 times. GW was able to limit the Rams to .305 shooting from the field, but the mark was heavily aided by the fourth quarter numbers when the Colonials outscored their guests 16-4 after outshooting them .700 (7-of-10) to .143 (2-of-14).

GW will try again for its first A-10 win of the year on Wednesday night at Rhode Island at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. The Colonials play again at home a week from today at 12 p.m. against Dayton, when the perennial conference powers battle once again. GW-Dayton games have provided many thrillers in recent seasons, including last season when the Colonials avenged a pair of regular season losses to the Flyers by knocking out the top-seeded Dayton squad in the semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship.