Gainesville, Fla. / Stephen C. O'Connell Center?The Robert Morris University women's basketball was edged, 67-63, at Florida in their season-opener Monday night in Gainesville, Fla. The Colonials fall to 0-1 while the Gators improve to 2-0 with the win.
"We came down here to get a win, so I'm disappointed that we lost," said head coach Sal Buscaglia. "But I think tonight we showed that we can play against anyone in the country. We want our program to become a national contender, and playing top teams from the top conferences - like Florida and the SEC - is part of that process. Today we took a little step in that direction."
Senior Chinata Nesbit (Washington, D.C. / Chipola JC) finished with a double-double, scoring 16 points while finishing with a team-best 12 rebounds, including six offensive, and garnering three steals. Junior Sade Logan (Knoxville, Tenn. / Chattanooga State JC) posted a team-high 20 points on 8-of-21 shooting, including 3-of-13 from the arc. Junior Angela Pace (Westchester, NY / Monroe), in her debut for the Colonials, was a perfect five-for-five from the field and 2-2 from the line. She also dished out a team-best six assists.
Florida's Marshae Dotson led all players with 25 points and 16 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end. Depree Bowden and Brittaney Thomas added 16 and 14 each.
Florida jumped out to a 4-0 before Robert Morris made their first basket on a jumper by senior Psyche Butler (Fort Worth, Texas / New Mexico JC). A sloppy game showed its face as the teams combined for five turnovers and seven missed shots over the next 2:13.
Florida eventually went on to a 14-8 lead with 11:44 left in the first half, breaking open an 8-8 ballgame. A pair of Robert Morris baskets brought the game back to two points, 14-12, but the Gators rolled off eight straight unanswered taking a 20-12 lead with 6:47 left before the break and forcing RMU to spend a timeout.
That's when Logan warmed up. She hit a jumper and three trifectas in the next five minutes, cutting the lead to 30-29 with 1:55 left in the half. The game went to the break with Florida clinging to a 34-31 lead.
RMU scored the first three points of the second half, tying the game, 34-34. Florida came back with four straight before the Colonials rattled off five unanswered taking a 39-38 lead as Nesbit completed a three-point play at 16:56. The teams traded baskets over the next two minutes when Dotson recorded a steal and put back her own rebound with 14:27 to take a 46-44 lead. Florida would lead for the rest of the game with Robert Morris cutting the lead to one point on five different occasions.
A Logan jumper with 1:19 left snapped a 2:16 scoreless drought and brought Robert Morris to within one, 62-61. After a Gator timeout, Bowden made a layup and Thomas hit a free throw taking the lead back to four points with 21 seconds left. Logan hit a jumper from the right baseline cutting the game to two points 65-63 with 10 seconds remaining, but Dotson hit two free throws with six seconds left to ice the game.
Neither team shot well, Florida holding a slim 37.3 percent (25-67) to 37.5 percent (27-72) edge in that department. RMU went 4-23 from three point range while the Gators hit just one of 11. Florida took advantage of numerous trips to the charity stripe, hitting 16-of-23 while Robert Morris was 5-of-6.
Notes: Robert Morris had not lost a season-opener since 2004 winning three straight ... The Colonials are just 2-12 all-time in season openers on the road ... Senior Psyche Butler (Fort Worth, Texas / New Mexico JC) held All-SEC pick Sha Brooks to 0-10 shooting ... Butler was 3-17 from the field finishing with six points ... RMU was outrebound, 50-41.
