Fairfield, Conn. – A three-point barrage in the second half sunk the Robert Morris University women's basketball team in its Northeast Conference (NEC) opener this afternoon as Sacred Heart University defeated the Colonials, 69-59, in a rematch of the league's title game held nine months ago.
Robert Morris (5-7, 0-1 NEC) carried a 25-21 lead into the halftime break and held Sacred Heart (4-8, 1-0 NEC) to just two makes from deep in the opening 20 minutes. That changed over the final two quarters as the Pioneers sunk 7-of-12 attempts from international waters, including a 4-of-4 performance in the closing stanza.
"It's a 40 minute game and we didn't play for 40 minutes," said first-year head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "We didn't defend for 40 minutes, that's for sure. We have to be tougher when a tough shot goes in for the other team, if a bad call is made – those kinds of moments."
RMU began slowly, allowing the defending NEC regular-season champions to jump out to an 8-0 lead over the opening six minutes. Junior forward Megan Smith finally got the Colonials on the board with a trifecta and was followed up with senior guard Rebeca Navarro and third-year Shakema Dashiell from deep, turning the eight-point deficit to a three-point one at the end of the first quarter.
Down 15-11 in the second frame, Smith put the Colonials on her back, scoring 12 of the team's next 14 points to give RMU its first lead. After Navarro hit a jumper to knot the contest at 15-15, SHU's Katherine Haines split a pair of free throws. The third-year forward then followed that up with a layup and two foul shots, which was answered by a Shelby Hickey three-pointer to tie it again. Smith responded with a trifecta of her own on the next possession and finished another three-point play the old fashioned way to keep the Colonials ahead at the first half buzzer.
RMU remained ahead for the beginning stages of the third quarter, holding a 31-27 advantage at the media timeout. Momentum shifted after the break as Hickey canned another three on the following possession, and Hannah Kimmel buried a trifecta of her own to put the Pioneers on top, 33-31. Nadège Pluviose briefly forced a deadlock with her only bucket of the game, but another Kimmel three pushed SHU ahead once more. Hickey added a jumper on the next trip down, setting the score at 38-33 heading into the fourth quarter.
The hosts added to their lead to kick off the final stanza, making it 42-33 before a three-pointer from senior guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou stopped the bleeding. Fellow fourth-year Janee Brown followed that up with a layup to pull the Colonials within four, but Hickey struck again to make a three-possession game.
RMU continued to fight, trimming the gap to four points on three more occasions and got it to two points with a Smith bucket at the 5:21 mark. However, the Pioneers answered with a 13-2 run on the strength of two more Hickey three-pointers to ultimately seal the contest.
"They [Sacred Heart] were beating us on the ball a lot more [in the second half]," said Buscaglia. "For the first half we stayed in front of the ball pretty well, but we had horrible accountability on the ball in the second half. We didn't communicate on defense and most of their shots were uncontested."
Smith led the Colonials with 20 points on 7-of-15 shooting, scoring 15 of those points in the first half. Stamolamprou posted the fifth double-double of her career with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Brown added 10 points and five assists from the point guard spot.
Despite making a season-high 11 three-pointers, RMU shot just 32.8 percent (21-of-64) from the floor. Behind Hickey's game-high 23 points on 8-of-8 shooting, SHU made 26-of-51 (51.0 percent) of its field goals.
"Megan [Smith] showed up inside, but besides that we didn't have any other inside presence," said Buscaglia. "That's disappointing. They played zone a little in the first half and we reacted okay, but the second half they really packed it in. We were finding people open on the perimeter and getting good looks.
"As we got more comfortable with attacking the zone towards the fourth quarter, we could have done something with our looks. We'd hit a big three and have some nice ball movement, but on the other end we'd refuse to play with the accountability we set as our backbone defensively."
Robert Morris closes its final road trip of the calendar year on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 1:00 p.m. when it faces Fairleigh Dickinson in NEC action.
