Hackensack, N.J. / Stratis Arena - The Robert Morris University women's basketball team lost an 80-68 contest at Fairleigh Dickinson in Northeast Conference action Monday afternoon. The Colonials slip to 2-2 in league game and 3-12 overall while the Knights sit at 3-1 and 8-7 overall.

"Although we did not come out with the win and that's disappointing, we played hard as a team," said RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia. "Some of the execution was not the best at times especially on defense but we will work to correct that. We had the lead at the start of the half but we have to learn what it takes to sustain it and push through fatigue."

Junior forward Artemis Spanou (Rhodes, Greece / Nea Smyrni) and freshman guard Ashley Ravelli (Milan, Italy / The Hun School) shared team-high scoring honors with 18 points each. Spanou added 13 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Spanou became the third player at RMU and 17^th in NEC history to record at least 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals in a career.  

Ravelli drilled four three-pointers and dished out four assists. Freshman Lou Mataly (Toulouse, France / Lycee-Bellevue) scored 11 points on her birthday.

Fairleigh Dickinson jumped out to an 18-10 lead as Stephanie Isaacs scored eight points and Desiree Crawford tallied four. The Knights pushed score to 28-20 on an Amanda Andrades trey with 4:37 left in the opening half.

The Colonials, however, turned up the defensive pressure and finished the frame on a 10-2 run to take a 32-30 lead at the break. Spanou accounted for six of those points - four points on post-up moves - and another two points with a nice feed to country-mate Anna Kavasila (Cholargos, Greece / Glyfaada). Ravelli splashed her third trey of the game with 49 seconds in the opening half to put Robert Morris on top, 32-30.

Robert Morris scored the first four points of the second half to stretch the margin to 36-30 and force the Knights to call a timeout. FDU came out and responded with an 8-2 run and tied the game on a three-pointer by Danielle Pankey with 15:55 left in the game.

A free throw by Spanou made it a two-point game, 45-43, with 13:08 showing on the clock. The Knights, however, stretched their lead to 11 points, 57-46, over the next three minutes. RMU cut the lead to six points after a jumper by Mataly and a trey by Spanou.

That would be as close as Robert Morris would get over the final 8:34. FDU pushed the margin to as many 15 points en route to its 80-68 victory.

Fairleigh Dickinson shot 53.6 percent (15-28) in the second half and 46.7 percent (28-60) for the game. Pankey led all players with 22 points and had 10 rebounds as well. Erika Livermore added 18 points and 13 rebounds while Isaacs had five treys en route to 17 points.

Robert Morris returns home to host NEC-foe Quinnipiac in a 4:00 p.m. game at the Charles L. Sewall Center Saturday, Jan. 19.