Moon Township, Pa. – Sal Buscaglia became the winningest head coach in Robert Morris University women's basketball history as the Colonials cruised past Sacred Heart, 78-63, at the Charles L. Sewall Center in the Northeast Conference opener Saturday afternoon. The victory was number 212 for Buscaglia at the helm of the RMU program moving him past Dan Swalga (1978-90). Buscaglia is 212-170 at RMU and is one win away from 700 (699-361) for his career.
 
"Winning 212 games here is a reflection of the quality of student-athlete that we've had along with the great support staff that I've had the fortune to work with. Coach B (Charlie Buscaglia) has been here since day one and is a big part of every single one of those wins," said 13th year head coach Buscaglia.
 
Junior guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou became the 20th RMU player to reach 1,000 career points. She finished with a season-high 22 points and now has 1,012 in her 73rd game as a Colonial. Stamolamprou went 8-of-11 from the field and was 6-of-7 on three-pointers while dishing out a six assists.
 
"It was great to start off with a win in the conference. I like how our players continued to work even though in the early going it was somewhat of a struggle," said Buscaglia. "But we came together as a team both offensively and defensively, sharing and shooting the ball very well.
 
"Shakema Dashiell came in off the bench after not seeing playing time in our previous few games and really ignited us with some outstanding plays. I thought our guard play was very good, including Anna Niki, Ashley and Rebeca along with a solid performance by Megan and Mikalah in the post. We need to continue working and getting better, not just our starters but our bench, because we're going to need them as conference play continues."
 
Ashley Ravelli finished with 12 points, Megan Smith had 11 and Rebeca Navarro tacked on 10 points. The Colonials shot 55.4 percent (31-56) overall and 52.2 percent (12-23) from three-point range. They dominated the glass to the tune of 40-19 as 12 different players grabbed a rebound.
 
Robert Morris hit its first nine shots of the game taking a 21-14 lead as Stamolamprou fed Mikalah Mulrain for an easy lay-in. The Pioneers responded behind the sharpshooting of Hannah Kimmell who had 11 first quarter points. Kelcey Castro hit a three-pointer to start the second quarter and Kimmell drilled a three-pointer to tie the game at 23 with 8:29 left in the first half.
 
The tie was short-lived. Smith scored the game's next seven points before Shakema Dashiell and Stamolamprou drilled three-pointers on consecutive possessions to end a 13-0 run and give the home squad a 36-23 lead. The trey by Stamolamprou was the 1,000th point of her career. The lead remained 13 at the break when Dashiell finished off a three-point play with less than one second to play in the half.
 
The play by Dashiell was the start of a 14-2 run by the Colonials that stretched to the midway point of the third quarter.  Ravelli had five points during the surge while Navarro and Mataly added long-range bombs in addition to the old-fashioned trey by Dashiell.
 
The Colonials stretched the margin to as many as 28 points, 74-46, when Stamolamprou buried her sixth three of the game with 8:08 left to play. Sacred Heart whittled the final margin to 15 points as RMU emptied its bench in the game's final five minutes.
 
Kimmel finished with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, matching Stamolamprou's three-point shooting at 6-of-7. Alissa Tarsi added 14 points and Lerae Ettienne had 10 off the bench.
 
The Colonials return to the hardwood on Monday, Jan. 4, when they host Wagner in a 5:00 p.m. game at the Sewall Center.