Moon Township, Pa. / Charles L. Sewall Center - Junior forward Artemis Spanou (Rhodes, Greece / Nea Smyrni) scored 26 points and ripped down 20 rebounds as the Robert Morris University women's basketball team defeated Bryant, 71-69, in a Northeast Conference game at the Charles L. Sewall Center Monday morning. The game tipped off at 10:00 a.m. for the team's second Elementary School Day contest.

The win was the third straight for the Colonials who improve to 3-10 overall and 2-0 in NEC games. The Bulldogs slip to 4-8 overall and remain winless in league games at 0-2.

"It's great to be in the position we're in at 2-0 in the NEC, but we certainly recognize that it's early in the season," said RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia. "We have to learn to play with a big lead like we had, but, to our young players credit, we made the plays we needed to come out on top at the end.

"Fatigue is always going to b ea factor with our limided roster, so its the responsibility of myself and the coaching staff to deal with it in the best way possible."

Spanou's 20 rebounds were a career-high and are the most by an RMU player since Chinata Nesbit pulled down 24 boards in a NEC Tournament game against St. Francis Brooklyn in 2008. Spanou finished 10-of-20 from the field, went 3-of-5 on three-pointers, dished out four assists and had five steals as well. Her 20-point, 20-rebound contest is the first in over eight years. Sugeiry Monsac was the last player to achieve the feat, scoring 21 points and grabbing 23 rebounds against Quinnipiac on Dec. 4, 2004. Spanou also eclipsed the 800-rebound mark and now has 814.

Freshman guard Lou Mataly (Toulouse, France / Lycee-Bellevue) tacked on 16 points, drilling four three-pointers, as well as knocking down four key free throws in the final 14 seconds. Junior forward Anna Kavasila (Cholargos, Greece / Glyfaada) had a career-best 11 points, most of which came from the charity stripe where she went 7-of-8.

"A log of people contributed to the win today, but once again Artemis - with no rest - came up with another double-doublewith 26 points and 20 rebounds. She also received good support from her teammates and Anna Kavasila had another good game, doing what she needed to do to help us win," said Buscaglia.

The Colonials were in charge for the first 30 minutes of this contest as they cruised to a 21-point lead, 59-38, on a short jumper by Kavasila with 11:11 to play. The next 10 points, however, belonged to Bryant as Katie Whittington and Courtney Schissler buried three-pointers that became part of a larger 31-12 run by the Bulldogs over the final 11 minutes.

RMU stemmed the tide with four unanswered points and a third consecutive free-throw by Kavasila put the lead at 64-52 with 4:34 to play. Another Bryant run, this one 7-0 and featuring another Schissler trey, cut the Colonials lead to five points, 64-59, with just over three-minutes to play.

A reverse lay-in by Spanou ended a nearly six-minute long field goal drought and put RMU back on top by seven with 51 seconds to play. The teams traded free throws over the final minute and the Colonials looked to be solidly in control holding a 69-62 lead after a pair of freebies by Mataly with 14 seconds to play.

The final 14 seconds were anything but ordinary. Schissler canned her sixth three-pointer and 20^th point of the game just 10 seconds later. A turnover on the inbounds pass and a foul on RMU allowed Danielle Douglas to cut the lead to two with a pair of free throws. On the ensuing inbounds, Mataly was fouled and hit both shots with 4.4 seconds to play.

A technical on RMU put Whittington back on the line and she hit both shots to once again make it a two-point game. Bryant, inbounding under its own basket, was unable to get a shot off before the final buzzer, however, giving Robert Morris the 71-69 lead.

Bryant scored the first five points of the game before Robert Morris responded with a 14-2 run fueled by three treys from Spanou and one by Mataly. The Bulldogs briefly regained the lead, 20-19, before the Colonials finished the half on a 22-12 run to take a 42-31 lead into the locker room.

RMU outrebounded Bryant, 42-35, and scored 24 points off 20 turnovers by the opponent.

The Colonials look to make it four consecutive victories when they travel to Monmouth for a 3:00 p.m. game Saturday, January 12.