Feb. 20, 2008

Box Score |  Notes

BRONX, N.Y. - Freshman center Ta'Shia Phillips registered her 15^th double-double of the season with 19 points to go along with 10 boards and led the Xavier University women's basketball team to a 65-42 victory over Fordham on Wednesday evening in the Bronx.  With the win, Xavier improves to 19-7 on the year and 9-2 in Atlantic 10 play.  FU slips to 0-26, 0-11. 

The Musketeers are now one win shy of notching a 20-win season for the eighth time in the last 10 years.  Xavier has won 20 regular-season games in each of the last two seasons. 

April Phillips was solid in the win, tallying 11 points and seven rebounds.  April Phillips' 11 came on 5-of-7 shooting. 

"I thought we played hard and did some good things in the first half," said head coach Kevin McGuff.  "We definitely let up in the second half.  To Fordham's credit , they played hard for the entire game and outplayed us over the final 20-minutes."

Fordham trailed 11-8 with 16-minutes remaining in the first half but XU completely dominated the Rams for the remainder of the game.  The Musketeers rattled off 12-consecutive points over the next 2:10 to seize a commanding 23-8 lead with 13:50 to go. 

It would only get worse for Fordham as the Musketeers held the Rams without a field goal for a 7:30 stretch and extended the 12-0 spurt to a 33-7 run over the next 9:10 and seized an authoritative 44-18 lead at the 3:20 mark.

Xavier led 48-20 at the break. Fordham was able to cut into the Xavier lead but the game was never in doubt.    

Xavier out-scored the Rams by a 40-12 count in the paint and out-rebounded the opposition 47-to-24.  The Musketeers used their rebounding advantage and out-scored the Rams 22-to-5 in second chance points. 

Xavier will remain on the road and will square-off against La Salle on Saturday, February 23.  Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Tom Gola Arena.