The Lady Jaspers took down the Fordham Rams 65-58 in Wednesday night’s game.
GRACE CARDINAL/THE QUADRANGLE
By Grace Cardinal, Editor-in-Chief
The Lady Jaspers took on the Fordham Rams in Wednesday night’s Battle of the Bronx. Despite a stiff start to the game, the Jaspers took home a 65-58 win against the Rams.
The Jaspers were at a disadvantage before game play even began – playing without their star senior forward Petra Juric due to illness.
“Petra is, in my opinion, one of the best players in this league,” head coach Heather Vulin said. “So not having her tonight was a huge loss, but the two words I wrote on the locker room board was ‘no excuses’. I told them, we have enough talent to take care of business tonight, and it may look different from our other games, because obviously, when you don’t have your 6-foot-3 center, it’s going to look different. But I was really impressed with how they believed in each other and played really hard for each other.”
Fordham put the first points of the game on the board with a two-point jumper from Chaé Harris and a layup from Rose Nelson, starting the game off at 4-0.
Three minutes into the first quarter, the Jaspers were able to get their first points on the board with junior guard Brianna Davis going in for a layup with an assist from graduate forward Leyla Ӧztürk.
Throughout the first quarter, the Jaspers continuously struggled with running their shot clock down to nothing and handing multiple turnovers to the Rams.
Fordham put up four more points in the form of a two point jumper from sophomore guard Amiyah Ferguson and a layup from Taylor Donaldson, bringing Fordham’s lead to 10-2. They soon extended this lead with two good free throws from junior forward Kaila Barry, giving the Rams a 10 point lead, 12-2.
It was in the last three minutes of the first quarter that the Lady Jaspers finally found their groove. Senior guard Nitzan Amar sank the ball from downtown with an assist from sophomore guard/forward Teagan Young, starting what would be a 10-point unanswered run for the Jaspers. Seven of these points came from Young herself, who scored a new career-record of 20 points in the game.
“It’s a nice mark in my career,” Young said. “Overall, it was just a really good win. We came in today, really battled, and the team put it all out there on the floor, and found me, and that’s how it goes.”
Vulin expressed her excitement for Young’s accomplishment on the court.
“Anybody that listens to me knows I love Tegan Young,” Vulin said. “She’s just a really wonderful human being, a tremendous basketball player, incredible teammate. She does things the right way, and I’m really happy for her, because, like I said, she does things the right way. She’s usually the first one in for practice, getting extra shots. She’s always working on her craft and enjoying working on her craft. So for her to have that breakout game tonight, I was super happy for her, especially in a fun environment like Battle of the Bronx.”
The Jaspers came back from a tied 12-12 first quarter ready to take their first lead of the game. Junior guard Hana Mühl sank a three-pointer with an assist from Amar for the first points of the second quarter, giving the Jaspers a 15-12 lead. The tables had turned, with the Rams now struggling to sink shots and maintain possession of the ball.
Directly after a steal from Mühl in the fourth minute of the quarter, Amar made a layup, once again beginning what would be a 15-point unanswered run for the Jaspers, their longest of the game.
The Rams made their first points of the second quarter with a three-pointer from Ferguson who had an assist from Donaldson.
With three minutes remaining in the quarter, Ӧztürk saw her first points on the board with a jumper, bringing the Jaspers 19-15. The Rams were determined to regain their lead, with jumpers from Ferguson and Nelson closing the gap to another tie, 19-19.
Amar once again broke the Rams’ hold with a two-point jumper. The last minute before halftime saw a struggle between the teams, with Rams tying the score up 21-21 with 32 seconds left. The Lady Jaspers’ Davis refused to enter the half with a tie, throwing up the ball for a buzzer-beater three-pointer that erupted Draddy and brought the score to 24-21.
“It felt really good,” Davis said of her buzzer-beater shot. “I know whenever I space out on the floor that the point guards are gonna find me. They have good eyes. They always make the right plays.”
The Rams opened up the third quarter tying the game once again, with a long-range shot from Donaldson bringing the score to 24-24. The Jaspers responded quickly, with Inés Gimenez Monserrat landing a three-pointer, shortly followed by a layup from Young, bringing the game to 29-26.
From downtown, Monserrat blew the Jaspers lead wide open to 35-26. The Rams once again attempted to tackle the point deficit with three minutes left in the third, with a layup from Karissa Antoine assisted by Ferguson bringing the score to 38-28.
Young, playing a hard-fought game, quickly opened the Jaspers lead back up to 13 points with a three-point basket, bringing the score to 41-28 Jaspers.
MU put up another four points in the last minute before the buzzer with layups from Young and Amar. With one second left on the clock, the Rams’ graduate forward Irene Murua shot up a triple, ending the third quarter at 47-38 Jaspers.
Heading into the fourth quarter, the first points were scored by the Rams’ Donaldson, who put six points up with two shots from behind the arc in the first minute, bringing the score to a one-play 47-44.
The Jaspers forced a turnover and Amar turned it into a two point driving layup, extending the team’s lead to 49-44. Shortly after, Young shot a three-pointer that once again erupted Draddy, setting a new career high for herself shooting 20 points single-handedly in a game, bringing the score to 52-44 Jaspers.
The last two minutes of the game saw the Jaspers with a 58-45 lead. The Jaspers’ Mühl fouled out with less than two minutes left in game play after receiving her fifth call of the game. The Rams’ Donaldson had a good three-point shot around the one-minute mark, closing the score to 58-51 Jaspers.
With one minute to go in game play, the Rams put up four points, Ferguson and Nelson both coming through with layups. The Jaspers made two successful free-throws out of four opportunities, bringing the score to 63-55 Jaspers. As she consistently did throughout the game, Fordham’s Donaldson threw up a triple with eight seconds left, bringing the score to 63-58 Jaspers lead. The last points of the game were free throws made by Amar with just seven seconds left on the clock, bringing the final score to 65-58, Jaspers win.
“I’m really proud of this team,” Vulin said of the win. “Obviously, the Battle of the Bronx is a rivalry game. Both teams leave everything out there, and obviously both teams went on a run and really battled till the very end. So it was a great game, [I] wish Fordham best of luck the rest of the season, but [I’m] really proud of my team.”