Women's Basketball 12/29/2014 7:09:00 PM

Kalu Records Season-High 26 In Loss To Fordham

Box Score

BRONX, NY – Redshirt senior Ezinne Kalu scored a season-high 26 points on Monday in a 53-63 loss to Fordham University at the Eighth Annual Fordham Classic in Bronx, New York.

Kalu's 26 is her highest amount of points in the last 22 games she's played as a Lady Tiger; dating back to a 30-point game against Bethune-Cookman on February 1, 2014.

In the first game between the two schools, SSU struggled from the field, while Fordham left the door open for the Lady Tigers late behind 11 turnovers and 13 personal fouls in the second half alone. Fordham finished with 21 turnovers and 23 fouls.

The Ram's opened the game shooting 100 percent from the field in the first seven minutes, on a 14-5 run. SSU struggled to get anything to drop, shooting a dismal 22 percent from the field.

Hannah Missry registered Fordham's first missed shot on an errant 3-point attempt with 13:19 on the clock. However, Missry connected on five other 3-pointers in the game, leading her team with 15 points.

SSU newcomer Tanease Richardson cut Fordham's lead to 16-7 with a layup at the 12:43 mark. But, the Ram's pushed back out to a double-digit lead behind two good free-throws a minute later.

The Lady Tigers continued to struggle, but kept Fordham within a manageable distance midway through the opening period.

Two free-throws from Emily Tapio lifted Fordham to a 29-15 lead with 3:15 to play. Bria Dorsey responded with two good free-throws to cut the Ram's lead back to 12 with 1:46 to play.

Missry added another trey for the Ram's largest lead of the half, 32-17, with 1:09 to play. SSU ended the half with a 4-0 run behind good free-throws from Kalu and Kenyata Hendrix. They trailed Fordham 21-32 into the locker room.

The Lady Tigers shot 66.5 percent from the charity strip on the day, hitting 19 of 29 attempts.

Fordham came out strong in the second half with a 9-2 run that was capped by 3-pointer from Samantha Clark. With 17:00 to play, Fordham led 41-23. Fordham shot 31.6 percent (6-19) from the beyond the 3-point line in the game.

SSU began to take advantage of turnovers from the Ram's, opening a 6-2 run over two minutes. Behind a layup Kalu cut Fordham's lead to 43-28. Despite the offensive surge from SSU, Fordham managed their lead through the middle of the half.

Tiyonda Davis and Kalu went to work later in the half. They combined for a 5-0 run that cut the Ram's lead to 47-36 with 9:37 to play. Missry ended the run with a good 3-pointer, but Kalu came back with two good free-throws a few seconds later.

Kalu's effort were thwarted by a 6-0 run from Fordham that followed her good points from the charity strip. Fordham pushed back out to an 18-point lead, 56-38, with 5:49 left in the game.

The Lady Tigers struggled to get below a 13-point deficient over the following four minutes. In the final 30 seconds, Kalu and Deyja Brown each hit 3-pointers, and Lauryn Fields hit a jump shot for the final 10-point loss.

Davis put up nine points in the loss and led the Lady Tigers with 10 rebounds. Fields ended with five points. SSU registered 12 steals against Fordham and only 10 turnovers. It was the second lowest amount of turnovers the Lady Tigers have had this year.

The Lady Tigers will play the University of Hartford on Tuesday at 1 p.m. in Rose Hill Gym in the second and final day of the tournament. Tuesday's game will be the first meeting of SSU and Hartford, and the first time SSU has played an opponent from the American East Conference.

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Players Mentioned

#1 Bria Dorsey: G; 5' 7"; Senior

#5 Lauryn Fields: G; 5' 5"; Freshman

#2 Kenyata Hendrix: G; 5' 10"; Sophomore

#23 Ezinne Kalu: G; 5' 8"; Senior

#44 Tiyonda Davis: C; 6' 2"; Sophomore

#14 Tanease Richardson: F; 6' 0"; Freshman

#24 Deyja Brown: G; 5' 8"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#1 Bria Dorsey
: 5' 7"; Senior
: G

#5 Lauryn Fields
: 5' 5"; Freshman
: G

#2 Kenyata Hendrix
: 5' 10"; Sophomore
: G

#23 Ezinne Kalu
: 5' 8"; Senior
: G

#44 Tiyonda Davis
: 6' 2"; Sophomore
: C

#14 Tanease Richardson
: 6' 0"; Freshman
: F

#24 Deyja Brown
: 5' 8"; Freshman
: G