Women's Basketball | 12/30/2016 3:34:00 PM

GAME 13
Robert Morris (5-7, 0-1 NEC) at Fairleigh Dickinson (2-10, 0-1 NEC)
Saturday, December 31, 2016 • 1:00 p.m.
Stratis Arena (3,000) • Hackensack, N.J.

Live Video: NECFrontRow.com
Live Stats: FDUKnights.com
Twitter: @RMUWBasketball • Instagram: rmuwbasketball
 
The Capsule
After falling to Sacred Heart in its Northeast Conference opener on Thursday, Robert Morris looks to rebound with a victory at Fairleigh Dickinson on New Year's Eve. This is the Colonials' 10th game away from Moon Township this season. RMU finally returns home the following Saturday, Jan. 7 against St. Francis Brooklyn and will play five of its next six contests at the Charles L. Sewall Center.




The Series vs. Fairleigh Dickinson
Robert Morris is 36-25 against the Knights in its history after dropping two of their three meetings last season. The Colonials fell to FDU in both regular-season bouts, but picked up a 68-59 victory in the NEC Quarterfinals. Prior to 2015-16, RMU had won five straight over the Knights. In the teams' last 11 games held at FDU, the Colonials have been victorious in eight of them.

Scouting the Knights
Fairleigh Dickinson sits at 2-10 overall after dropping its NEC opener to Saint Francis U on Thursday. Redshirt senior forward Brianna Thomas leads the Knights in scoring, averaging 13.1 points per contest. Fellow senior Kiana Brown is at 9.8 points per game and a team-best 2.8 assists per game, while junior forward Amina Markovic has per-contest averages of 8.3 points and 6.0 rebounds, thanks in part to a 33-point, 11-rebound performance against the Red Flash.
 
Know Your Enemy
Anna Niki Stamolamprou has done a little bit of everything against Fairleigh Dickinson during her career. She poured in 20+ points against the Knights twice last season and is averaging 14.9 points in eight contests, while also adding averages of 5.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 2.0 steals. Rebeca Navarro is the only other active player to score 20 or more points versus FDU, doing so with a career-best 23-point effort (8-12 FG, 7-7 FT) as a sophomore in the NEC Quarterfinals. Jocelynne Jones has also found success offensively against the Knights, tallying double-figures in points twice including a near double-double (12 points, 9 rebounds) last season in the Garden State.

Last Time Out
In a rematch of the NEC Championship Game held nine months ago, Sacred Heart got revenge on Robert Morris as the Colonials fell to the Pioneers, 69-59. RMU held a 25-21 lead at halftime, but SHU scored 48 points on 65.4 percent (17-26 FG) in the second half to come away with the win. Megan Smith led the Colonials with 20 points, while Anna Niki Stamolamprou posted the fifth double-double of her career with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
The 50-40-90 Club
It has been said that the ultimate standard for shooters in basketball is to make 50 percent of your field goals, 40 percent of your three-point attempts, and 90 percent of your free throws. Junior forward Megan Smith is on pace to become the program's first member of the exclusive club as she's shooting 51.3/54.3/90.9 across the three categories. RMU has only had 11 players shoot 50 percent or higher in a season (min. 60 FGM) and seven make over 40 or more percent of their three-pointers (min. 20 3PM). The Colonials have not had a player make 90 or more percent of their free throws (min. 50 FTM), and have had eight players with a percentage of at least 80 percent.
 
Major Minutes
Senior guard Rebeca Navarro didn't start for the first time all season on Thursday at Sacred Heart, but she still managed to play a team-high 38 minutes in the defeat. Navarro has been hard to pull off the floor for the Colonials in her last hurrah, currently sitting third in the NEC with an average of 33.25 minutes per contest. Her classmate, Anna Niki Stamolamprou, leads the league at 39.00 minutes per game.
 
The Floor General
Senior guard Janee Brown has had a strong start to her final season in a Colonial uniform, owning a 1.83 assist-to-turnover ratio through the first 12 games. Brown (42a, 23t) currently leads the Northeast Conference, which hasn't been done since 2009-10 when Angela Pace topped the league with a 2.36 mark.
 
From Downtown
Robert Morris paces the NEC in three-point percentage, knocking down 34.9 percent of its attempts from distance. The Colonials have four players who have made double-digit trifectas, led by senior guard Rebeca Navarro's 21.
 
Boarding Pass
Senior guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou became the 20th member of RMU's 500 rebound club on Dec. 18, pulling down six caroms to surpass the marker. The feat also made her just the third player in program history to tally 500 rebounds and 300 assists, joining Artemis Spanou (1563r, 370a) and Angela Pace (508r, 303a).

Musket Shots
In the Colonials' five victories this season, they have held a lead going into the fourth quarter ...  Robert Morris is looking to start the NEC slate 1-1 for the third time in four seasons - those previous campaigns have ended in an NEC Tournament title (2013-14) and a league championship game appearance (2014-15)  ... Nneka Ezeigbo claimed her second NEC Rookie of the Week award on Dec. 19, becoming the fourth Colonial in the last five seasons to garner the plaudits more than once (Ashley Ravelli, Megan Smith, Anna Niki Stamolamprou) ... RMU returns 74 percent of its scoring from 2015-16, including five of its six leading scorers
 
Tweet #ColonialPride