Nashville, Tenn. – A 15-8 first quarter set the tone this afternoon from Memorial Gymnasium as the Robert Morris University women's basketball team was unable to come back from the early deficit in a 75-59 loss to Vanderbilt University in non-conference action.
Senior guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou scored a team-high 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting for Robert Morris (3-2, 0-0 NEC), moving into sole possession of fifth place on the program's all-time scoring list in the process. Stamolamprou came into the afternoon tied with Kim Mong (1981-85) with 1,346 points and is now 45 shy of surpassing Sheri Horvath (1992-93, 94-97) for fourth place.
"[Anna Niki] did a great job of being real steady and played with a great pace," said first-year head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "She didn't start off shooting the ball well early on, and those are the kind of games you remember as a coach, because it's easy when you come out and shoot well early. When you start off a little slow and miss your first few, and then continue to battle and do other things, everything starts to fall into place.
Junior forward Megan Smith added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Colonials, and freshman center Nneka Ezeigbo also cleaned the glass seven times while pouring in a career-high nine points in her second consecutive start. As a team, RMU shot 41.1 percent (23-of-56) from the field, but could only connect on 6-of-23 attempts from deep.
"[Nneka]'s just getting more comfortable out there," said Buscaglia. "I thought today she played with poise and against their post player (Marqu'es Webb), who took over in the second half against Duke and changed that game, she did a great job of controlling her around the basket. She's really finding herself as a freshman and I thought today was a big step forward."
The visitors took advantage of a slow start, holding a slight 4-3 edge at the first media timeout. That lead grew to 7-3 with three points from Stamolamprou, but Vanderbilt (4-1, 0-0 SEC) answered with a 12-1 run over quarter's final 4:09 to take control of the contest.
Trailing by 17 with five minutes remaining in regulation, the Colonials showed great fight to put a scare into the Commodore faithful. Smith kicked things off with a jumper in the paint, and followed that up with a layup on the next possession. After a Rachel Bell bucket made it 66-51, senior guard Rebeca Navarro drained a trifecta from the baseline and then buried a fastbreak layup after a great pass from fellow fourth-year Janee Brown. However, Vanderbilt stopped the bleeding with a Kayla Overbeck at the 2:42 mark and scored nine of the final 12 points to set the final.
"We came out with a lot of focus and intensity and I was very pleased with the energy," said Buscaglia. "We did some good things out there and we did some bad things, but our effort was never less than 100 percent. It's unfortunate we didn't put more open shots in because we had some really good looks. Down in the fourth quarter, we were still fighting to the end and if a couple buckets would have went in there, I felt we really had them reeling."
Bell led the Commodores with 20 points. Overbeck added 15 points and eight caroms off the bench, while Rebekah Dahlman scored 11 in 20 minutes.
"Against an SEC team with that kind of athleticism and size," continued Buscaglia. "Getting to the rim and breaking them down through teamwork and three or four people touching the ball every time down the floor, that's awesome to see and we just have to keep building off of that."
Robert Morris is back in action on Friday, Nov. 25 at 2:00 p.m. when it faces Stetson University in the Florida International Thanksgiving Tournament.
