Hamden, Conn. / TD Banknorth Sports Center?Trailing at Quinnipiac University by two points, 51-49, with eight seconds left in regulation, Robert Morris University women's basketball senior guard Kendra Williams (Bronx, N.Y. / Mount St. Ursula) drove the length of the court and put up a left-handed shot. The ball hit the glass, rolled around the front of the rim to the glass on the other side before dropping off the back of rim and to the ground as the buzzer sounded.
The loss drops the Colonials to 5-10 on the season and 3-2 in Northeast Conference play. The Bobcats improve to 10-4 and 4-1 in the NEC.
Quinnipiac scored the winning basket with 7.1 seconds left. Jacinda Dunbar, who finished the game with 15 points and 13 rebounds, got an open lay-up on a pick-and-roll play with Erin Kerner.
Colonials junior guard Monet Johnson (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Grand Street Campus) finished with a career-best 18 rebounds and added 12 points to record her sixth double-double of the season and second straight. Senior forward Grace Williams (Baxley, Ga. / Appling County (Frank Phillips)) had 12 rebounds while senior guards Sade Logan (Knoxville, Tenn. / South Doyle (Chattanooga State)) and Kendra Williams had 13 points and 11 points, respectively.
Robert Morris controlled the glass in the first half as Johnson equaled her career-high for boards in the first 20 minutes with 12. As a team, Robert Morris outboarded the hosts, 32-18. The Colonials turned a one-point, 6-5, deficit into a 15-8 lead as Johnson finished a three-point play and hit a long jumper before Logan buried a trey. Nearly four minutes later, a jumper from the paint by Latavia Vails (Odenton, Md. / Odenton (C.C. of Rhode Island)) pushed the margin out to seven points.
Kerner ended a 5:42 scoreless streak for the Bobcats hit a three with 8:06 left in the half. A Mandy Pennewell fastbreak layup cut the lead to two points. Robert Morris would control the final six minutes, however, closing on a 15-6 run to take a 30-19 margin into the break.
Quinnipiac ? and more specifically, Pennewell ? came out shooting in the second half. Pennewell drained back-to-back three-pointers followed by a Brianna Rooney basket that gave the Bobcats a 36-35 lead. After exchanging baskets, the Bobcats opened up a seven point lead on another Pennewell three followed by a Kerner layup that put Quinnipiac up, 48-41, with 7:18.
RMU then went on 8-0 run fueled by a Kendra Williams three-pointer, a Destiny Harrison (Niagara Falls, N.Y. / Niagara Falls) and a Shakeena Cunningham (Buffalo, N.Y. / Canton-McKinley) floater pushed them to a 49-48 lead with 2:58 left. A Dunbar free-throw with 2:00 left tied the score at 49, setting up the final minute of action.
The Colonials host Wagner on Saturday, January 17, in a 4:00 p.m. contest. The game kicks-off a three-game homestand for Robert Morris.
