Moon Township, Pa. / Sewall Center-The Robert Morris University women's basketball team rode the hot hands of senior Kristine Silaraja (Ventspils, Latvia / Barton County CC) and freshman Artemis Spanou (Rhodes, Greece / Greek National Team) to a 78-72 win over fifth-seeded Long Island in quarterfinals of the 2011 Northeast Conference Basketball Championships Presented by Ruby Tuesday at the Charles L. Sewall Center Saturday afternoon.
"It was a great victory for us. The opening round of the playoffs, the nerves were a bit shaky there at the beginning," said RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia. "Long Island was predicted to win the conference back in the preseason and we knew it was going to be a tough ball game, just like the two meetings during the regular season.
"Our kids made the plays in the end and that's where it counts during playoff games. Those rebounds at the end of the ball game were big, and you certainly can't overlook the performances by Kristine and Artemis as well as the will to win by Yohanna Morton who's playing on half a leg."
The Colonials, now 16-13, advance to the NEC Tournament semifinals for the sixth time in the last seven seasons where they will take on second-seeded Monmouth. The semifinal contest is slated for 7:00 p.m. at the MAC on Tuesday, March 8.
"Monmouth has won seven in a row and beat us by eight the last time we played," said Buscaglia. "We didn't have Yohanna last game. Hopefully she can rested and her knee will get a bit better over the next two days. We're going to have to hit shots against them. If we don't hit shots, we're going to be in trouble. At playoff time, we feel that if we play our game, we can win."
Silaraja eclipsed her career-high for the second straight game with 27 points while Spanou also set a new career standard with 24 points. Silaraja was efficient, going 9-of-12 from the field and 5-of-6 from three-point range while playing all 40 minutes for the Colonials. Spanou, the 2011 NEC Rookie of the Year, picked up her 12th double-double, adding 11 rebounds. She was 10-of-18 from the floor and 3-of-6 on long balls.
The Colonials and Blackbirds (19-11) went back and forth with the first 10 minutes featuring five ties and five lead changes. Long Island's Chelsi Johnson forced the game's fifth tie by hitting a short jumper with 9:04 left to play. RMU responded with a 10-2 run, highlighted by a three-pointers from Silaraja and an old-fashioned three-point play by senior Yohanna Morton (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic / Dominican national Team) that made it a 37-29 ball game with 5:04 left in the first half.
Ashley Palmer, who finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds, scored the next seven points for LIU and cut the lead to three before a Morton jumper sent the game into halftime with the Colonials holding a 41-36 lead.
Neither team found the same offensive rhythm they had in the first half, but Long Island managed to claw back and tie the game, 49-49, with 11:58 to play when Chelsi Johnson scored three consecutive LIU points. A Silaraja trey temporarily slowed the Blackbirds, but short jumpers by Palmer and Johnson put the visiting squad on top, 54-53.
The teams traded baskets before Spanou splashed a three-ball to put the Colonials on top, 57-55. She stretched the margin to four points and a steal by senior Mary Durojaye (London, England / British National Team) led to a Silaraja fast-break lay-in that capped a 7-0 run and gave the Colonials a 61-55 lead.
Long Island was still not done. A 9-2 Blackbird surge erased a 66-60 Colonials lead and put the league's five-seed up by one point when Kiara Evans forced a steal and lay-in with 3:37 to play. Spanou answered on the other end and three consecutive free throws by Durojaye and three more by Silaraja gave Robert Morris a six-point lead with 27 seconds to play, essentially icing the game. Each squad hit three more free throws in the final 19 seconds as the Colonials secured the 78-72 win.
The Colonials shot 44.8 percent (26-58) and hit 47.1 percent (8-17) on three-pointers en route to a season-best 78 points. Long Island cooled off from 45.2 percent in the first half to shoot 38.5 percent (25-65) for the game and was just 26.3 percent (5-19) from downtown. Robert Morris held a 44-35 advantage on the glass.
