Flood took to the court in the second quarter for the New York side, adding a steal to her name, and got a thrill out of being among a new level of play.

"It was such a cool experience, we've been training for so long and playing practice games, it was really nice to finally put all our hard work together," she said.

"The win made all our hard practices and sprints worth it."

Moving to a new country with different rulesets and a higher level of competition has made for an enjoyable challenge for Flood.

"The learning experience has been different but interesting. There's a heap of new rules in the game over here, like different shot clocks and a smaller three-point perimeter, but I'm getting the hang of it all," she said.

"As a team we have clicked really well and know how to use each other and play together. We are all really close which makes practicing and playing with each other so much more fun."

Fordham's strong start against America East conference opponents Stony Brook proved the difference as they ran out to a 39-25 lead at the break.

Captain Kaitlyn Downey notched up 20 boards while Anna DeWolfe top scored with 25 points.

It was on the defensive end where Fordham really made their presence known.

"We as Fordham are a defensive team, and let the offence come from good defence. We have a heap of defensive principles we stand by, and we take pride in our defence and protecting the basket," she said.

"We drill it everyday and it shows in practice and in the game. Our rebounding in our first game is what got us the win, we out-rebounded Stonybrook on both ends of the court, and our captain pulled away with 20 rebounds which is crazy.

"It was a heap of fun playing, but we also found a lot we had to work on and improve on. We had our game Wednesday cancelled because of COVID, so our next game is this Saturday which we are all pumped for."

Flood's Rams play the Quinnipiac Bobcats on Sunday morning Australian time in their second match.

Meanwhile, Bathurst's Will Cranston-Lown top scored for the Regis University Rangers in their 82-66 loss to the University of Colorado.

Cranston-Lown shot 50 per cent from the floor as he recorded 16 points in a tough game to start the season.