Moon Township, Pa. / Charles L. Sewall Center - The Robert Morris University women's basketball team made a second-half run before coming up short in a 61-52 loss against Northeast Conference leader Quinnipiac at the Charles L. Sewall Center Saturday afternoon. Junior forward Artemis Spanou (Rhodes, Greece / Nea Smyrni) finished with 14 points and 20 rebounds to record her 45th career double-double, tying the all-time record at RMU set by Hall of Famer Elise James (1996-00). The Colonials slip to 3-13 and 2-3 in the NEC while the Bobcats move to 14-2 and remain unbeaten at 5-0 in the league.

Freshman guards Ashley Ravelli (Milan, Italy / The Hun School) and Lou Mataly (Toulouse, France / Lycee-Bellevue) each hit four three-pointers. Ravelli finished with 18 points, tying her career-high, while Mataly ended the game with 12 points.

"We played very hard, but we also have to execute and hit open shots and get key rebounds at important times of the game," said RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia. "They are a highly-ranked team and we knew it was going to be a major challenge going into the game. A shot or a rebound here or there in the final minutes and we could have won the game."

The Colonials turned the ball over 28 times and the Bobcats took advantage, scoring 29 points off of those turnovers and tallying 15 fast-break points.

RMU went on top as Ravelli and Mataly each knocked down early three-pointers. Over the next nine minutes, however, Quinnipiac took advantage of eight Robert Morris miscues and built a 25-12 lead when Nikoline Oostergard hit a short jumper capping a 20-4 run with 7:37 showing in the opening frame.

A three-pointer by Mataly was followed by one from freshman Randi Jackson (Oakland, Calif. / Bishop O'Dowd). A free throw by Quinnipiac interrupted the 8-0 RMU run, but Ravelli buried another trey and the Colonials found themselves within three points after the 11-1 surge. The Bobcats recovered well enough to take a 36-28 lead into the break when Jasmine Martin's three-pointer from the corner beat the buzzer.

The Bobcats pushed the margin to a game-high 19 points by scoring the first 11 points, nine by Felicia Barron, of the second half. Facing a 47-28 deficit, Robert Morris went on a 15-1 march, getting two treys from Ravelli and six points from Spanou to make it a five-point game midway through the second stanza.

Once again, a free throw by the Bobcats stemmed the tide before a tip-in by Spanou cut the lead to four points. Over the final 10 minutes, however, the Colonials cooled off from three-point range and the teams would trade baskets. RMU never again cut the lead to less than five and Quinnipiac never went ahead by more than eight until the final score ended at 61-52.

Brittany McQuain and Barron finished tied for high-scoring honors for the visiting Bobcats with 14 points each. Barron came up with seven steals while McQuain pulled down seven rebounds. Martin tacked on 11 points, five rebounds and four steals.

The Colonials play the middle game of a three-game league homestand Monday afternoon when they host Sacred Heart in a Martin Luther King Junior Day matinee at 2:00 p.m.