Charlotte 79, Fordham 55

2/27/2008 8:09 PM

By JIM O'CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -Everything was normal before the game for the Fordham women's basketball team.

The day was a little more special because it was the last home game for Beth Troutt, the team's only senior, and, oh yeah, the Rams had a chance to tie the record for futility in a season.

``We come here every day because we enjoy basketball and we love it,'' Troutt said. ``That is our motivation and desire.''

It didn't help. Charlotte beat Fordham 79-55 on Wednesday, dropping the Rams to 0-28, a record first reached by Charleston in 1990-91 and matched by Centenary in 1999-2000.

The Rams, who have lost 32 straight games overall, can set the record when they close their season at No. 15 George Washington on Saturday. Fordham did not qualify for the Atlantic 10's postseason tournament.

``We're not measuring ourselves by losses,'' Troutt said. ``We're getting better every day and we're taking all this as a learning experience. You can learn from everything and that's the positive spin we're taking right now.''

Fordham is still well short of the NCAA record for consecutive losses, 58 by Long Island University from 1987-89.

Sabrina Gregory had 17 points for the 49ers (17-12, 8-5 Atlantic 10), who broke what seemed like a paltry two-game losing streak.

Annie Zopf scored 18 points for the Rams (0-28, 0-13), who last won on Feb. 4, 2006, beating Duquesne 74-65. Fordham was 3-25 last season.

``This school had four winning seasons in 27 years before we got here and had never had a winning one in the Atlantic 10,'' second-year coach Cathy Andruzzi said. ``So when we came in it was safe to say the program was decimated.''

Andruzzi said she and the players have not been addressing the record.

``We're not stupid, we know it's there,'' Andruzzi said. ``But they are so smart they won't get caught up in that. They know it's step by step and we are all confident we'll get better and better.''

There was little drama that the Rams might avoid tying the record in their last home game of the season.

They missed their first six shots and committed six turnovers as Charlotte went ahead 10-0. The closest Fordham got was 16-9 on 3-pointer by Zopf. The 49ers extended the lead to 38-18 at halftime as the Rams went 5-for-27 from the field (18.5 percent), a tough 20 minutes even for the team that started the game last in the conference in field goal percentage at 34.7 and in scoring at 52.5 points per game.

Charlotte led by as many as 27 points in the second half.

``We don't have the talent of our opponents in a very tough conference and against a tough nonconference schedule,'' Andruzzi said, ``but you can't beat up the kids for that.

``I think it bothers others around here more. They all seem to take the losses a lot worse than we do.''

In a season that featured injuries that eliminated any chance at having any depth and painfully close losses including one in overtime, another in double overtime and two others by two points, it figured that the Rams would have to close the regular-season schedule with games against the top four teams in the conference.

``The double-overtime loss to Saint Louis would have to have been the toughest to take,'' Andruzzi said. ``Honestly, these players don't know how to win yet and you owe it to the players to be realistic with them.''