G'mrice Davis Named Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year

League Release | Award Winners
 
Newport News, Va. – The Atlantic 10 announced its end-of-season honors on Thursday morning and the Fordham women's basketball program was represented by senior forward G'mrice Davis, who became the school's first-ever Defensive Player of the Year and repeated as First Team All-Conference and an All-Defense selection, and redshirt freshman Bre Cavanaugh, who earned Second Team All-Conference and All-Rookie honors.
 
All awards and All-Conference teams were nominated and voted on by the league's 14 head coaches. Each school's sports information directors selected the All-Academic team.
 
Davis anchored the top scoring defense in the Atlantic 10, currently 19^th nationally, which allowed 55.6 points per contest, was second in the league with 10.3 defensive boards per game and averaged 1.6 steals per game. The senior forward averaged a double-double for a second consecutive year – a team-leading 17.1 points and 13.6 rebounds, the latter ranking second in the nation and third all-time in school history, and played 36.8 minute per contest, ranked 36^th in the country. Davis tallied 25 double-doubles in 28 games, including a stretch of 13 straight, and currently leads all active Division I players with 55 for her career. Her 44 steals and 15 blocks each paced the Rams. The Philadelphia native notched at least one steal or block in all but two games, scored 10 or more in all but one game, and grabbed 10 or more rebounds in all but three contests. This year she was named A-10 Player of the Week twice and Metropolitan Basketball Writers' Association (MBWA) Player of the Week three times. Davis joins Jeanine Radice ('89), Nicole Williams ('92), and Erin Rooney ('14) as the only multiple and back-to-back First Team honorees in school history, and is the first Ram to earn two All-Defense nods, as well.
 
Davis became the second Ram this season to reach 1,000 career points and rebounds, currently sitting fifth and second all-time, respectively, with 1,449 career points and 1,152 rebounds. With her last field goal against Rhode Island on Tuesday, Davis surpassed Nicole Williams for fourth all-time with 571 career field goals made and is also fourth with 307 career free throws made.
 
Cavanaugh waited two years to play her first collegiate game and has made the most of it this season, averaging 16.4 points across 38.3 minutes per game in all 30 contests, and upping those numbers to 18.1 and 39.0, respectively, in conference play. She is just the second Fordham freshman to earn All-Conference distinction and the sixth to get an All-Rookie nod. Cavanaugh, among the program's freshmen all-time, ranks second in points (492), scoring average (16.4), starts (30), free throws (127), and free-throw percentage (83.6%), is third with 156 field goals and 53 three-pointers, and first with 1,149 minutes played. That tally is the second-most in the country next to teammate Lauren Holden, while her 38.3 minute average ranks sixth. Her 127 free throws made also ranks ninth overall all-time among all players in a single season at Fordham.
 
Cavanaugh became just the fourth Fordham rookie, and sixth player overall, to tally multiple 30-point performances in a single campaign and set the school record for freshmen with 37 points in a double overtime loss at Saint Louis, just four games after scoring 34 in a one-point loss at home to Dayton. Cavanaugh also did something no other Ram had accomplished in program history – recording seven steals against Rhode Island on February 4^th, the second-most in a single-game in school history.
 
"It's exciting to see G put an exclamation mark on her career at Fordham with being First Team and Defensive Player of the Year and I'm super proud of Bre being named Second Team and All-Rookie," Head coach Stephanie Gaitley said, "They have proven they are two of the top players in our conference. Now we have to go and prove we are the best team."
 
Fordham plays Saint Joseph's for the second time in seven days on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Richmond Coliseum in the Atlantic 10 Championship quarterfinals.