Moon Township, Pa. – A strong closing stretch and an even better opener allowed the Robert Morris University women's basketball team to snap a four-game skid as it defeated Howard University, 59-42, this afternoon from the Charles L. Sewall Center.
Playing its first home game since Nov. 13 against Monmouth, Robert Morris (4-5, 0-0 NEC) got off to a blistering start, outscoring Howard (1-6, 0-0 MEAC), 26-7, in the first quarter. The Colonials bookended the contest with a 43-15 advantage over the visiting Bison, offsetting the 27-16 deficit they gave up over the second and third frames.
"It was a step in the right direction," said first-year head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "We have to get used to playing for 40 minutes, and to sustain our energy and intensity. That lull in the third quarter happened, but we responded and got back to doing the things that got us the lead in the beginning."
The hosts received a game-high 19 points from senior guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou, who moved past Sheri Horvath (1992-92, 94-97) for fourth place on the program's all-time scoring list. Stamolamprou, now with 1,413 points for her career, shot 7-for-10 from the field and added nine rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
"It's a testament to [Anna Niki's] hard work, great intensity, and focus as a freshman," said Buscaglia of Stamolamprou's achievements. "She came in here and was able to blend in with the team, and became a major piece of things early on. That was due to her focus and mentality. She's battling right now, and when you're battling it means that you care."
Also scoring double-figures for the Colonials was junior forward Megan Smith and freshman center Nneka Ezeigbo, who had 13 and 11 points, respectively. Smith added 10 rebounds for her second double-double of the season, while Ezeigbo blocked five shots in just 21 minutes of action.
"[Megan] has done a good job at being one of our players we can go to," said Buscaglia. "And [Nneka] has done well handling a lot of learning. Nneka's a defensive presence and a good rim protector, and she has raw athleticism, strength, and coordination – she just really needed to learn the game."
After Howard got its first points at the 8:23 mark of the first quarter, RMU used three buckets from Smith and a trifecta from senior guard Rebeca Navarro to go up by double-digits. The Colonials continued to light the up the scoreboard, using efficient sets to get good looks and a strong man-to-man defense to gain more scoring opportunities. Smith drilled a trey after the Bison made it 16-5 and was followed up with a steal and layup from Stamolamprou. Another Bison bucket was matched with a three-pointer from the Greek fourth-year guard, along with a block and basket from Ezeigbo.
Howard opened the second half by scoring the first eight points, making it 37-29 before a Stamolamprou layup stopped the bleeding. Senior guard Janee Brown split a pair of free throws to push the lead to 11, but a five-point run from the visitors trimmed the deficit to six with 1:59 remaining in the third quarter. However, Smith got on the board to close the frame, and RMU began the closing stanza with three straight field goals to move out of the danger zone for good.
Imani Bryant posted a double-double for the Bison, tallying 11 points and 19 rebounds (10 offensive). Te'Shya Heslip – who entered the game as the team's leading scorer at 18.7 points per contest – added 10 for Howard, but shot just 2-of-14 from the field.
The Colonials converted 40.7 percent (22-54) of their field goal attempts and held Howard to a 23.9 percent (17-71) shooting performance from the field. That kind of defensive prowess marked the first time since Feb. 29, 2016 (vs. Saint Francis U) that RMU held a team to under 30 percent shooting.
After moving its record to 134-39 (.775) since 2004-05 at the friendly confines of the Charles L. Sewall Center, the Colonials will not play their next game at "The Chuck" until Jan. 7, 2017 against St. Francis Brooklyn.
"Although we didn't handle [being on the road] well because we came up short in some close games, we have learned from it," said Buscaglia. "Hopefully with what we've learned over the last couple weeks, we can go out there and do some nice work at Iowa. We've been out there before, so we're familiar with their great program."
Robert Morris takes on Iowa for the third consecutive season on Friday, Dec. 9 at 8:00 p.m. eastern, 7:00 p.m. local time.
