Moon Township, Pa. – After falling behind in the first quarter, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team outscored Point Park University by 21 points over the final three frames en route to a 69-52 season-opening victory this morning from the Charles L. Sewall Center.
Robert Morris (1-0, 0-0 NEC) was led by senior guard Janee Brown and junior forward Megan Smith, who shared high scorer honors with 19 points each. Brown's point output was a career-high and she added seven assists with it, while Smith pulled down a career-best 13 rebounds (8 offensive, 5 defensive) to register her second double-double in a Colonial uniform.
"We needed Megan [Smith] to really step up as a junior and really be a leader out there," said first-year head coach Charlie Buscaglia, who earned his first career victory. "She's a very versatile player. Defensively, Megan did a better job for us when it came to knowing where she was on the floor, being willing to step in and help, and that's the kind of leadership we need."
Junior guard Shakema Dashiell began the game with the season's first basket, burying a jumper on RMU's second possession. Point Park (2-1, 0-0 KSC) answered with a Carly Forse layup on the next trip down the floor and followed that with a Sam Weir three-point to gain an early advantage.
The Pioneers maintained that lead over the course of the quarter, stretching the gap to 17-11 late in the stanza on another Weir trifecta. Buscaglia burned a timeout after the basket to rally his team, and the Colonials responded with a layup before the buzzer by senior guard Rebeca Navarro.
Another basket by Weir made it 22-15 with 7:24 remaining in the first half, but Smith had a quick response with a jumper at the seven-minute mark. That kickstarted a 12-0 run to give the Colonials a 27-22 lead as junior forward Jocelynne Jones and freshman guard Ja'lynn Burton-Jones found the scoresheet. Weir stopped the bleeding with a couple of free throws, which marked the beginning of a 5-0 response over the final 1:41 to set the halftime score at 27-27.
The teams continued the back-and-forth theme to begin the third quarter as they traded the first 10 points. RMU went to Smith again to spark a rally and she delivered with her second of three trifectas and a jumper off the fastbreak. Brown then hit from downtown after a steal from junior center Mikalah Mulrain, followed up by another Smith layup to give the hosts a 10-point cushion.
PPU began to chip away at the deficit, scoring the final six points of the third stanza to make it 45-41. The four-point difference remained early in the fourth quarter, but a basket from freshman center Nneka Ezeigbo halted the visitors' momentum.
The Colonials' lead ballooned to double-digits once more with five points from Smith and another Ezeigbo layup, setting the score at 56-44 with 5:17 left. RMU added some cushion in the end from the chalk as Brown scored 11 of her 19 points over the final 3:45 to seal the victory.
Ezeigbo tallied eight points and six rebounds in her first collegiate game. Burton-Jones and Nadège Pluviose also made their Colonial debuts in the victory, playing 16 and nine minutes, respectively.
"I was proud of Nneka down the stretch and how she stayed mentally tough in key spots," said Buscaglia. "She had a nice second half for us and was a big reason why we came back and won."
Mulrain blocked a pair of shots defensively, while Smith, Navarro, and Ezeigbo registered two steals each.
Weir led the Pioneers with 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Carly Forse and Maryssa Agurs were also in double-figures with 10 points each.
Robert Morris returns to the court on Sunday, Nov. 13 at 1:00 p.m. when it hosts Monmouth.
