Erin Rooney is not only defining herself as one of the best players in the Atlantic 10 conference, but as one of the best players in women’s college basketball – period.

It’s a major call yes, but her numbers don’t lie. Through five games this season Rooney is averaging a gaudy 21.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and shooting just under 46% from the field.

On November 15 in a 77-64 loss against Hofstra University; Erin carried over her hot streak from the first two games of the season in an effort that totalled 23 points and nine boards in 39 minutes of action.

Two days later back on her home court at Fordham, she led the Rams to a huge 84-63 victory over Pacific. The win ended Fordham’s two game losing streak as Rooney added her best game to date in an already impressive season. The Kiwi tied a career high with 23 points on a highly efficient 6-10 shooting and 10-10 free throws. She also added another 10 rebounds, five assists and one steal on the night. It was Rooney’s second double-double of the season as she thoroughly controlled the game in 33 minutes of playing time.

The following Saturday Fordham continued its three game homestand as they welcomed in a 3-1 Yale team that took down the Rams handily last season. Not this year. Led by co-captain seniors Abigail Corning and Erin Rooney, Fordham dominated and climbed back above the .500 win mark in an 80-52 win. Though Corning came away with a near triple-double of 16 points, 12 boards and nine assists; Rooney was once again the star pouring in 23 points to go along with 11 rebounds of her own. The most impressive part? She only played 27 minutes.

So what has made Erin Rooney such a difficult matchup for the opposing team? Mainly her versatility. She’s everywhere on the court: creating for teammates, scoring the ball, pulling down boards and being a defensive presence (Rooney won the Northeast Conference defensive player of the year back in her sophomore year at Monmouth). Take out one dimension of Erin’s game and she’ll stick it to you with another. Put a bigger defender on her and she’s too quick. Smaller and her strength will overmatch most of her opponents. Fordham head coach Stephanie Gaitley says that Rooney is matchup nightmare for any team.

“She’s (Rooney) got a lot of diversity. She can get to the basket, she can shoot the three, she can beat you off the dribble,” Gaitley said,

“She has a mental game, she has a long game and she has the attack to the basket. That’s what makes her so difficult to match up against.”

While Rooney’s scoring and distributing abilities have already been showcased since arriving on the college scene in 2009 for Monmouth University; her dominance on the glass has been a surprising improvement.  As a 5’8 point guard Erin is easily leading the Rams in rebounds a game with 9.2 (the next being Corning with 6.6 per game). This added dimension makes it even tougher for opponents to contain. Coach Gaitley commented on Rooney’s rebounding after the win against Pacific.

“I laugh because when she was freshman, I mean you look at her having these double-doubles, as a freshman we were lucky to get two rebounds out of her because she was so weak,”  she said,

“And you look out how much she has transformed her game and her body, I mean she obviously is one of the premier players in my mind in the country and not just in the conference.”

However with her abundance of points, assists, rebounds and efficient shooting percentage; Erin has still struggled with turnovers. With five against Hofstra, four against Pacific and another seven against Yale, it brings her season average to a relatively high 4.8 per game. This has been a problem for Fordham as a team this year (17 per game) and with the responsibility of running an offense it is crucial for Rooney to limit these mistakes in games moving forward. Putting a leash on this would only create more opportunities for her to dominate on the offensive end.

As a whole the Rams have had mixed results this year. An opening season win against the University of San Francisco was followed by consecutive double digit road losses to Penn State and Hofstra before returning home with the wins against Pacific and Yale.  The trouble has been on the road for Fordham, who are 0-2 on the year away from the confines of Rose Hill Gym. While it’s still the very early stages of the season and conference play has yet to commence, Fordham is currently sitting 7th out of 13 teams in the Atlantic 10. Their next game is at home against a 3-1 American University (AU) squad, which should be a fairly easy game for Rooney and the Rams, as AU’s record doesn’t really dictate the strength of the team.

Going forward I don’t see any chance of Rooney slowing down on her torrid pace. Her all-around Jason Kidd types of performances (as a PLAYER, definitely and certainly not as a coach) are drawing the attention of eyes around the NCAA women’s basketball world. With her teammates now seeming to click over the past couple of games, Fordham is looking like a threat to creep up in the Atlantic 10 standings and make another bid for an NCAA tournament appearance. And without a doubt Erin Rooney will be leading the charge.