Just how long has it been since Fordham women’s basketball won a postseason game?
Jimmy Carter was president, the Berlin Wall was still standing and Barack Obama was a 19-year-old kid at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
The year was 1980, women’s hoops wasn’t even a sanctioned NCAA sport and Ann Gregory was patrolling the hardwood at Rose Hill.
That drought ended Thursday night when the Rams beat Army 55-46 in the first round of the WNIT at Rose Hill.
“It’s so exciting [to win a postseason game],” Fordham graduate student Marah Strickland said. “Every game that we get to keep playing together, we’re lucky.”
Rams head coach Stephanie Gaitley had preached “tradition begins now” to her Rams for the entire season, and that mantra proved true at the historic Bronx gym. Fordham’s women’s basketball team hadn’t won a playoff game since the AIAW was the only tournament in women’s college basketball.
“I put the number 32 on the [board in the locker room] to represent us getting to the next round,” Gaitley said. “I was so proud of the kids to feel the energy in the gym because we hadn’t had that all year. We’ve gotten some believers.”
The Rams rebounded after a crushing defeat last Saturday against St. Joe’s in the Atlantic 10 championship game. Fordham lost 47-46 and missed out on its first NCAA tournament berth since 1994.
“After Saturday’s game we had a nice day off,” Strickland said. “Coach came to us and told us that we have to move forward and we’re blessed to be playing in the NIT tournament. We had a good practice [on Wednesday], the energy was good.”
Early in the game, it looked as if there was a bit of a hangover from the disappointing loss on Saturday and the realization that after a school-record setting season in the A-10, the Rams would not be in the Field of 64.
“In the first half our defense wasn’t tight,” Strickland said. “In the second half we really focused in on our team defense, helping each other out, being really sharp on our switches. I think that was the key for our win tonight.”
Fordham utilized a 15-0 run in the first half to take a 24-15 lead that it would not surrender for the rest of the night. The Black Knights went 7:40 seconds without scoring a basket.
The difference in the Rams team on Thursday was it did not falter when Army made a run in the second half. Powered by Kelsey Minato, Army would bring the score even at two separate points early in the second half, but Fordham was able to stay the course thanks to clutch 3-point shooting from Arielle Collins (14 points) and Abigail Corning.
“[I just wanted to] stay in my groove,” Corning said. “Take the shots when they present themselves. I was just trying to embrace my role, the shots just started falling. It was a good night.”
Corning picked up her fifth double-double of the season, scoring 15 points and 11 rebounds, earning a congratulatory fist bump from Gaitley in the post-game press conference.
Fordham’s defense, which adjusted to press Army after the under-12 timeout in the first half, held Minato and Army’s leading scorer Anna Simmers to 28 points on 12-of-40 shooting. After starting 5-of-10, Army would shoot just 15-of-51 for the rest of the game.
“I told the kids I thought we got out-toughed,” Gaitley said. “I think for us, we’re a pretty good defensive team. We spend a ton of time on defense and we pride ourselves on that.”
Fordham also received key contributions from Erin Rooney, who despite shooting 2-of-9 from the field, had six rebounds, six assists and four steals for the Rams.
“I think with Erin, there was some residue from Saturday,” Gaitley said. “She’s a perfectionist. She realized that she had a tough game [Saturday]. She made two huge plays that don’t make it into the state sheet.”
Fordham will host Boston University in the second round of the WNIT on Saturday.
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com