Women's Basketball | 1/5/2017 1:08:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University women's basketball program will have its first player inducted into the athletic department's Ring of Honor as 2007 alumnae Sugeiry Monsac is slated to receive the honor on Saturday, Jan. 7 during a ceremony at halftime of the Colonials' Northeast Conference (NEC) game against St. Francis Brooklyn.
Monsac, who donned the Robert Morris colors from 2004-07, is the second overall member of the Ring of Honor, joining inaugural inductee Chipper Harris (1980-84) of the men's basketball program. Harris had his jersey unveiled in the rafters of the Charles L. Sewall Center on Feb. 15, 2014.
"I'm honored to see her [Sugeiry] coming back and having her jersey lowered," said first-year head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "She was the one who really catapulted this program forward. There were other pieces from that team who were really strong, but she was the first to say 'I'm coming to Robert Morris' and start things off."
Devised in the summer of 2013, the Robert Morris Ring of Honor was created to honor the very best in its Division I history. In order to be eligible for the Robert Morris Ring of Honor, a former male or female student-athlete who played basketball with the Colonials must meet at least four of the following five criteria:
- RMU Athletic Hall of Fame member
- RMU career statistical leader in any category for a minimum of five years
- Named conference player of the year at least once
- Earned all-conference first team honors at least once
- Member of conference regular season or tournament championship team that advanced to a national postseason tournament
Inducted into the RMU Hall of Fame in 2014, Monsac played two full seasons in Moon Township after transferring from Arizona Western Junior College and helped spearhead the resurgence of the program. The native of Villa Maria in the Dominican Republic scored 1,177 points and grabbed 689 rebounds during her career, totals that rank 12th and sixth, respectively, all-time at Robert Morris. She was the 2005 NEC Player of the Year after averaging 20.1 points and 11.6 rebounds per contest and closed her career by returning from injury to nab a spot on the 2007 All-NEC Second Team while leading the Colonials to the program's first ever NCAA Tournament berth.
"I remember recruiting her and she had a ton of offers," remarked Buscaglia, who is in his 14th season overall at RMU. "She was the type of player that could change a program. When she said that she'd take one of her official visits at Robert Morris, I was so happy and excited and thought that we cleared a big hurdle, but we still had to beat out Oklahoma State and Auburn.
She only had two years to play, so her decision was going to be to go somewhere where she really felt that she would be involved right away. She wanted to be a part of a movement, which was what we were working on because of how down the program was when we first got here. When she committed, I was so excited that she wanted to join our family – I think that we even threw a party. She didn't disappoint whatsoever during her time here."
The Colonials went 10-96 in the four seasons prior to Monsac's arrival and compiled a record of 64-27 during her three seasons on the roster. The turnaround from 2003-04 (3-24) to her first season in 2004-05 (20-10) marked the third largest win increase in NCAA history.
Robert Morris' contest against St. Francis Brooklyn is its first at home since Dec. 4 and is slated for a 1:00 p.m. opening tip.
