Chapel Hill, N.C. / Carmichael Arena-The Robert Morris University women's basketball team can certainly be proud of the way it played in a 76-47 loss at #14/16 North Carolina Wednesday night. While the score doesn't reflect it, RMU (0-2) had moments where they outplayed the Tar Heels (2-0).
Senior guard Kristine Silaraja (Ventspils, Latvia / Barton County C.C.) finished with a game-high 20 points while shooting 8-of-16 from the line. She tied her career-high with four three-pointers coming on 11 attempts. The senior was the highlight of an off shooting night for RMU. The Colonials finished the game 20-of-64 from the field and 6-of-25 from three-point range despite creating plenty of open shots.
Early on, it looked as though the Colonials would get blown away in historic Carmichael Arena as they trailed 20-6 with 12:38 left to play in the first half. RMU, however, responded with a 7-0 run led by Silaraja. The senior drained a three from the left corner, then beat her defender with a back-door cut and assist by Yohanna Morton (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic / Dominican Republic National Team). A turnover by the Tar Heels led to a 3-on-1 Colonial breakaway on the following possession and Anna Gailite (Riga, Latvia / Latvian National U-20 Team) hit a short bank-shot to cut the lead to 20-13 with 10:02 left to play.
Robert Morris would hold that margin until five minutes left to play in the half. That's when freshman Artemis Spanou (Rhodes, Greece / Greek National Team) picked up her third foul. North Carolina finished out the half on a 13-3 run to take a 40-22 lead into the break.
The Tar Heels, led by two straight baskets by Naismith Award candidate and Preseason All-NEC Team member Jessica Breland, opened the second half on a 10-2 run. However, RMU would only be outscored by three points over the final 15 minutes of the game. A 7-4 Colonial surge cut the lead to 23 points with 10:25 to play and forced the Tar Heels to burn a timeout.
The Colonials finished the game with 21 offensive rebounds against a much bigger Tar Heel squad, crashing the offensive boards. Spanou led all players with seven assists to go along with three rbounds and five points. Morton tacked on 11 points while freshman Danielle Bounds (Oklahoma City, Okla. / Putnam City West) was impressive in her college debut, knocking down a three-pointer and grabbing four boards in just nine minutes.
Italee Lucas led five Carolina players in double-digits with 16 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Tierra Ruffin-Pratt added 13 points, Cetera DeGraffenreid had 12, Breland finished with 11 and Waltiea Rolle chimed in with 10 points. Ruffin-Pratt added a game-best 14 boards to round out her double-double.
The Tar Heels shot 45.8 percent (33-72), going 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) and scored 23 points off of 19 Robert Morris turnovers.
The Colonials continue a three-game road trip when they travel to Cincinnati to take on the Big East member Bearcats. That game is scheduled to tip-off at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, November 21.
