ST. LOUIS – In front of a record crowd at Chaifetz Arena, Saint Louis used a furious second-half rally to knock off Atlantic 10 Conference co-leader Fordham, 54-50, Saturday afternoon at Chaifetz Arena.
The victory, SLU's second in a row, moves the Billikens to 10-10 on the season and 3-4 in league play. Fordham, which came into the game as one of two undefeated teams in A-10 play, dips to 14-6 and 6-1 in the A-10.
The Billikens trailed by 10 at halftime but outscored the Rams 35-21 in the second half thanks in part to a 13-0 run to start the second session. The crowd of 3,920 betters the previous SLU women's basketball attendance record of 2,018, set during the inaugural season of Chaifetz Arena in 2008-09.
Sadie Stipanovich led the Billikens with 18 points. She was 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe, including a pair of late free throws that sealed the win for the Bills. Jenny Vliet recorded her first career double-double with 12 points and a career-best 10 rebounds.
The Billiken defense held Fordham without a field goal for more than nine minutes at the end of the first half and beginning of the second. The Rams, who were led by Tiffany Ruffin's 13 points, shot 34.5 percent from the field, their lowest shooting mark of the A-10 season.
Stipanovich jump-started the Billikens' scoring spurt at the beginning of the second half. She hit the first two Billikens' field goals of the half, and Olivia Jakubicek buried back-to-back buckets to give SLU its first lead of the game at 30-29 with 13:54 remaining.
The Billikens would not trail the rest of the game. Fordham tied the score at 40-all with a little more than five minutes left, but Vliet hit a pair of free throws to help the Billikens regain the lead. With less than three minutes remaining, Vliet again broke a tie when she converted a 3-point play to put the Billikens ahead 47-44.
SLU registered its largest lead of the game at 51-44 with 1:19 left before Fordham rallied with a 6-0 run to make it interesting late. However, Vliet and Stipanovich made free throws in the final seconds and the Billiken defense fought off a late Fordham opportunity as the Billikens secured the win.
Fordham jumped out to a 7-0 lead at the start and stretched its advantage to 11-4 five minutes into the contest.
Jamesia Price ended the brief Billiken drought with a 3-pointer, and Price later found Stipanovich for the long pass and finish to pull the Billikens within four.
Fordham then went a 7-0 run to lead 20-9 with 4:43 left before the Billikens put together a rally of their own. Vliet buried a pair of free throws, Maddison Gits converted a layup and Jackie Kemph had a pretty spin-move en route to a layin as SLU utilized the 6-0 spurt to pull within five with three minutes remaining in the first half.
Desirae Ball knocked in a jumper at the first-half horn, but Fordham went to the locker room leading 29-19 at the break, setting up the opportunity for the Billikens' second-half heroics.
The Billikens return to action Wednesday, Jan. 28, when they host Saint Joseph's for Education Day at Chaifetz Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
