Fairfield, Conn. – In a game that featured 12 ties and 10 lead changes, it was Sacred Heart who had the final say with a late 16-2 run to hand the Robert Morris University women's basketball team a 62-52 loss in a Northeast Conference game at the Pitt Center in Fairfield, Conn., Monday night. The Colonials slip to 14-11 overall and 8-6 in the NEC while Sacred Heart takes over first place in the league at 14-11 and 12-2 in league play.
 
Ashley Ravelli had a season-best 18 points to lead all scorers. She finished 7-of-14 from the field and hit 4-of-5 from long range. She added two boards, two assists and two steals as well. For the eighth time this season, RMU had 10 players find the scoring column.

"We need to be tougher down the stretch in games. We gave this game away as we did the Fairleigh Dickinson game," said 13th year RMU head coach Sal Buscaglia. "You can't be outscored 16-2 down the stretch. You have to learn how to be tough, make stops, get rebounds and execute. Our offense was working well up to that point, and then in crunch time, we panicked, didn't stay mentally tough and gave them the game. We cannot get outrebounded by 13 and let their post get 18 rebounds."
 
Robert Morris hit two of three shots to open the game and found themselves in front of the host Pioneers, 7-3, after a pair of free throws from Mikalah Mulrain. The Pioneers scored the next six points, briefly claiming a three-point lead, before a trey from Ravelli followed by a Jocelynne Jones lay-in put the Colonials back on top, 12-9. Five straight points for the Pioneers gave them the first quarter lead, 14-12.
 
Sacred Heart pushed the margin to as many as five points, 19-15, with a 10-2 run that spanned the first and second quarters. Robert Morris evened the board at 22-22 with a pull-up jumper by Ravelli and a finger-roll from Anna Niki Stamolamprou. The score remained tied into the half, 27-27, thanks to a short bank-shot from Janee Brown as time expired.
 
The teams traded the lead back and forth in the third, but a 6-2 push by the Colonials at the end of the quarter gave RMU a 39-36 lead heading into the final frame. Stamolamprou hit a short jumper, then Leah Wormack hit a pair from the line before Lou Mataly drilled a three-pointer with seven seconds left in the quarter.
 
Ravelli nailed a three-pointer off the bounce to snap a tie with 5:57 to play. After an Alissa Tarsi lay-up, Rebeca Navarro put back her own miss to push the margin back to three-points with 4:59 to play.
 
From that point on, it was all Pioneers. Tarsi scored the game's next six points starting a 16-2 run that would last until the game's final minute. Hannah Kimmel gave Sacred Heart its biggest lead, 57-46, with a pair from the chalk with 44 seconds to play.
 
Tarsi and Kelcey Castro tied for team-high honors with 14 points each. Tarsi added a career-best 18 boards to her stat line as well.
 
Robert Morris returns to the Charles L. Sewall Center this Saturday, Feb. 20, to celebrate Senior Day prior to their 1:00 contest against St. Francis Brooklyn.