Tradition begins now.
Stephanie Gaitley is not a saleswoman by trade, but she certainly did a good job of selling that line to players when she took over as the head coach for the Fordham women’s basketball team.
Fordham, five years removed from an abysmal 0-29 season, is now just one win away from capturing the Atlantic 10 crown and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Gaitley, in only her second year, is the driving force behind the Rams revival.
“I couldn’t sell wins or A-10 success,” Gaitley told The Post. “I could sell the university and my success. I told the players that they had a chance to be a part of something.”
And this group of women is now a part of something that could become even greater if it can beat Gaitley’s former team, Saint Joseph’s, on Saturday night at Barclays Center. The Rams beat the Hawks earlier this season with a 70-63 road overtime win.
Gaitley, an Ocean City, N.J., native, took Saint Joe’s to five NCAA tournaments from 1992-2001. She’s the all-time wins leader at three separate schools – Saint Joe’s, Richmond and LIU – and won her 500th career game earlier this season. At Monmouth, her last stop, she guided the team to 23 wins and a WNIT berth in 2011.
While the first meeting with Saint Joe’s was in Philadelphia, the rematch will be in Fordham’s backyard. Gaitley and the Rams (24-7, 12-2) are not planning on the Hawks (22-8, 11-3) to be intimidated by a potentially Ram-heavy crowd.
“We’re trying to create that advantage but we aren’t drumming it up as a big thing,” Gaitley said. “Saint Joe’s is a really good road team.”
It seems as if this Rams run would catch anyone off guard, especially considering Fordham’s track record since joining the A-10, but Gaitley thought this was a realistic possibility.
“If you look at our schedule last year, there were a lot of overtime losses and close games,” Gaitley said. “I knew coming into this season if all went the right way, we could make something happen, we could surprise some people.”
And while many things went the right way, such as leading scorer Marah Strickland being cleared for a sixth year of eligibility and redshirt junior Erin Rooney following Gaitley from Monmouth to Fordham, there were some rough patches, including a three-game losing streak in December that almost derailed the Rams.
But Fordham never wavered.
“The numbers didn’t lie, we weren’t shooting the ball well,” Gaitley said. “But [eventually] the team realized we have an opportunity to win the conference, it gave the kids confidence.”
A win on Saturday night would give Fordham an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1994, when the Rams were beaten 94-41 by Penn State. But even if Fordham loses, it could still nab an at-large bid and the WNIT is all but certain. A 62 RPI would put the Rams squarely on the NCAA bubble.
“Regardless of what happens, [it’s been a successful season],” Gaitley said. “The first step is so crucial, you can spin it one way to the other. It’s been an incredible season.”
Ironically, Gaitley sees some of her former Saint Joseph’s teams in this Fordham squad in terms of potential success in the Big Dance.
“A lot of it depends on seeding,” Gaitley said. “We’re playing with such confidence [similar to my Saint Joe’s teams], that this team has the potential to make it to the second round and knock on the door of the Sweet Sixteen.”
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com