Moon Township, Pa. (Sewall Center)?The Robert Morris University women's basketball team won easily in their 2007-08 home opener, defeating Kent State, 90-65, at the Charles L. Sewall Center Thursday night. The Colonials (1-1) shot a scorching 53.8 percent (35-65) from the field while holding the Golden Flashes (0-2) to just 33.3 percent (23-69) shooting.
“I'm happy to get a win over a formidable opponent in Kent State who comes from a high-ranking conference, the Mid-American Conference,” said RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia. “I'm happy with the performance of some of our new players, especially Brittany Dukes and Shakeena Cunnigham. With the schedule that we have, we will be tested and there some things we still need to work on.”
Dukes (Baton Rouge, La. / Southern Univ.-Shreveport), a junior guard, and Cunningham (Buffalo, N.Y. / McKinley), a freshman guard, were two of the 10 different players that scored for Robert Morris Thursday night. Dukes finished with nine points on 3-4 shooting in eight minutes while Cunningham finished with two points, two steals and an assist in 10 minutes.
Junior guard Sade Logan (Knoxville, Tenn. / Chattanooga State) paced the Colonials offense with 23 points. She hit 5-14 three-point attempts and finished 9-22 from the field while ripping down eight boards. Senior forward Chinata Nesbit (Washington, D.C. / Chipola JC) filled the stat sheet in her usual fashion. She went 8-12 for 21 points, added seven rebounds, tallied nine assists and added three steals for good measure.
No other Colonial reached double-digit scoring, but several recorded the first career points for RMU in addition to Dukes and Cunningham. Freshman center Tiffany McMillion (Baltimore, Md. / Catonsville) tallied four points on 2-2 shooting. Junior Grace Williams (Baxley, Ga. / Frank Phillips JC) had eight points going 3-4 and hitting both of her free throw attempts.
Kent State's Anna Kowalska had game-highs in points with 27 and rebounds with 16. She went 9-18 from the field, 9-11 from the charity stripe and pulled down eight offensive boards. Alisa Brinkman added 17 points and six rebounds.
Robert Morris scored the first seven points of the game on a Logan three-pointer and two Nesbit baskets and would never again look back. Kent State cut the lead to three points a few minutes later, but RMU ran the lead out to as many as 23 points before going into break holding a 46-26 lead.
The Golden Flashes scored the first six points of the second half, cutting the margin to 14. The Colonials, however, regrouped and led by as many as 30 points down the stretch en route the easy win.
The Colonials travel to Duquesne next Wednesday, November 21, for a 7:00 p.m. game.
