Moon Township, Pa. / Charles L. Sewall Center-Like the storm that covered the region under two feet of snow, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team buried Saint Francis (Pa.) under a flurry of early three-pointers en route to a 78-48 victory in a Northeast Conference contest at the Charles L. Sewall Center Saturday evening. The Colonials have now won six straight contests, improving to 16-7 overall and keeping pace with Sacred Heart at the top of NEC with an 11-1 record. The Red Flashes slip to 9-13 and 6-6 in league games.
Senior guard Angela Pace (Westchester, N.Y. / Woodlands (Monroe College)) came up one assist shy of the third triple-double in team history. She tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds while shoveling out nine assists. She also had three steals.
Freshman Vega Gimeno-Martinez (Valencia, Spain / Spanish National U-20) led all scorers with 20 points, going 7-of-10 from the field and 4-of-7 from three-point range. She also had four assists, four boards and three steals. Junior Kristine Silaraja (Ventspils, Latvia / Ventspils (Barton County)) had 15 ponts and six rebounds while junior Destiny Harrison (Niagara Falls, N.Y. / Niagara Falls) came off the bench to score 10 point in 19 minutes of action.
The Colonials didn't leave much doubt that they intended to plow through the Red Flashes early on. A three-pointer by Monica Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Woodland Hills (Howard College)) just seven seconds in was followed by a fast-break layup and trey by Gimeno that buried Saint Francis in an 8-2 hole two minutes into the game. An Allison Smith layup cut the margin to four points, but the Colonials rattled off the next 10 points and would never look back charging to a 42-40 lead at the break.
RMU finished the first half shooting 51.7 percent including 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) from three-point range as Gimeno scored 13 in the opening 20 minutes. The Colonials got 16 points off turnovers and eight on the fast break while Saint Francis gave the ball up 12 times and managed to connect on just 28.0 percent (7-of-25) of its shots.
Robert Morris extended the lead to as many as 33 points in the second half, allowing Saint Francis to shoot just 25.0 percent (7-of-28). The Red Flashes finished the game hitting at a 26.4 percent (14-53) clip while the Colonials hit at 51.8 percent (29-56) for the game.
Britney Hodges was the lone Red Flashes player in double-digits, finishing with 20 points as she hit five three-pointers and was 6-of-16 overall.
The Colonials travel to Central Connecticut State for a 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 11.
