New Britain, Conn. / Detrick Gymnasium -The Robert Morris University women's basketball team used a strong second half run to overcome a halftime deficit and take an 86-72 victory at Central Connecticut State Saturday afternoon at Detrick Gymnasium. The Colonials stay perfect in Northeast Conference play at 3-0 and improve to 9-5 overall. The Blue Devils suffer their sixth consecutive loss and slip to 6-8 overall and 0-3 in league games.

The Colonials had five players in double-digits led by junior Briannica Tye's (Aurora, Ill. / West Aurora (Mineral Area)) 20 points. She did the majority of her damage from the charity stripe where she went 11-14. Sophomore Kelly Hartwell (Woodbridge, Va. / Gar-Field) tacked on 18 points off the bench, going 5-of-6 from the field and 8-of-8 from the charity stripe.

Junior April Williams (Bronx, N.Y. / Murry Bergtraum (Monroe College)) added 17 points and senior Mary Durojaye (London, England / Barking Abbey (British National Team)) chipped in with 14 points.

Junior Artemis Spanou (Rhodes, Greece / Nea Smyrni (Greek National Team)) collected her sixth double-double as she corralled 12 rebounds to go along with 10 points.

The Colonials scored the first six points of the second session to establish a 41-37 lead on a pair of free throws just over two minutes in. After a CCSU basket, RMU would reel off 10 unanswered points to firmly grab control of the game, 53-41, with a Hartwell jumper. The Blue Devils would never again cut the lead to less than 10 points and RMU would push the margin out to as many 20 points.

In the first half, RMU fell behind 4-0 before Williams hit a three from the right corner for the team's first points nearly three minutes in. Central Connecticut State built their first half lead to 9-3 with four points from Jessica Babe with just over 15 minutes left.

Williams drilled her second three-pointer of the game on the next possession to start a 13-1 run that put the Colonials on top, 16-10, when Spanou buried a trey from the top of the arc. A 17-foot jumper by Jaclyn Babe stemmed the tide, but free throws by Tye, a lay-in from Anna Gailite (Riga, Latvia / Riga Secondary #47) and a Romane Dessacs (Péchabou, France / Bellevue) three-pointer put Robert Morris on top, 23-12, to cap a 20-3 run halfway through the first half run.

The Blue Devils responded with their own run to cut the RMU lead to two points, 27-25.  RMU pushed the margin back to five points with a traditional three-point play by Hartwell. Central Connecticut State would score the final eight points of the first half, however, to carry a 37-34 lead into the half after a Watras jumper at the buzzer.

RMU shot 53.8 percent (14-26) in the second half en route to 44.8 percent (26-58) shooting for the game. RMU canned just over 77 percent (27-35) of its free throws. CCSU finished the game at 42.6 percent (26-61) from the field and 73.9 percent (17-23) on charity shots.

The Colonials travel to Smithfield, R.I., for a 7:00 p.m. game against the Bryant Bulldogs this Monday, Jan. 9.