Monmouth Roundup

The Monmouth University women's basketball team defeated Fordham 65-59 on Saturday evening in the third place game at the University of Miami Thanksgiving Tournament at the Bank United Center.

Veronica Randolph (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Deerfield Beach) scored 13 points down the stretch in the second half as Monmouth outscored Fordham 39-31 after intermission to pace the win.

Monmouth took an early 7-6 lead at the 15:00 mark of the first half following a McElroy right corner three-point field goal off a cross court pass from Bender, who scored Monmouth's first bucket on a transition lay up two minutes into the game. The MU lead stretched to 12-8 following a Nyaimah Ware (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) left wing threepoint field goal at the 12:05 mark of the first half.

The Rams tied the game up at 14-14 at the 9:38 point of the first half after a threepointer from freshman Raina Spencer at the top of the key. Fordham expanded their lead after an 8-0 run to 22-14, but Randolph halted it with a 15-foot jumper at the 3:50 mark of the first half.

Monmouth outscored Fordham 12-6 over the final 5:26 of the first half, keyed by four Bender points. The first half was punctuated when Monmouth's Kevaney Martin (Oil City, Pa./ Oil City) blocked Fordham's Spencer when she attempted a three-pointer from the top of the key at the opening half's buzzer to keep the score 28-26 in favor of the Rams. McElroy led the way for the Hawks in the opening half with seven points and four rebounds, as Bender added six points and three boards. MU shot 36.7 % in the first half, while the Rams shot 42.9 % in the opening half.

Monmouth returned to action last night when they hosted St. John's.