Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University women's basketball team dropped a defensive Northeast Conference (NEC) battle to St. Francis Brooklyn this afternoon, falling 56-49 in its first game at the Charles L. Sewall Center in over a month.
Despite holding its third opponent of the season to under 30 percent shooting, Robert Morris (6-8, 1-2 NEC) dropped its third consecutive home matchup with St. Francis Brooklyn (4-10, 2-1 NEC). The Colonials' 31.0 percent (18-of-58) shooting performance edged out the Terriers' 29.8 percent (14-of-47) effort, but the visitors made 24-of-31 (77.4 percent) of their free throws to secure the victory.
"We dropped our heads too much and didn't run our plays correctly," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "Defensively, we needed to pick it up a lot more in the second half. We did okay in the first half, but we have to do a lot better of a job in the second half. Games are going to be won by our effort and passion, and we can't let one play affect the next."
RMU found success on the offensive end in the early going, hitting 6-of-11 shots in the opening quarter. Senior guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou buried a pair of threes in the stanza, including one from NBA range as the Colonials raced out to a 14-11 advantage after 10 minutes.
After St. Francis Brooklyn cut the deficit to one following a pair of Maria Palarino free throws, RMU answered with a 9-2 run to close the half and push the lead to 27-19. Sophomore guard Nia Adams began the stretch with a trifecta off a pass from junior forward Megan Smith, but it was answered with an Olivia Levey jumper. Smith then made a bucket on the next possession, and third-year guard Shakema Dashiell added a layup on an assist from senior point Janee Brown. With 1:21 left in the quarter, junior center Mikalah Mulrain found an open Stamolamprou out of the post and the fourth-year buried a jumper to make the gap eight.
That lead grew to 11 in the opening stages of the second half, but the Terriers responded with 10 consecutive points over 1:53 to pull within one. Junior forward Jocelynne Jones stopped the bleeding with a corner three and two foul shots from Smith made it 35-29, but that was followed with another substantial run as the visitors scored eight of the next nine points to take a 37-36 advantage into the fourth quarter.
The Colonials regained the lead just nine seconds into the final stanza after senior guard Rebeca Navarro canned a trey from the wing. However, the Terriers answered with a trifecta of their own and a second from Rachel Iozzia set the score at 43-39.
"Our passion and intensity has to be demonstrated in a positive way," said Buscaglia. "The reason why we haven't played a full 40 minute game yet is because there's somebody from the five is going to miss a shot or make a bad play, and we have to be ready to continue to go through that."
RMU put together one last run, rattling off five straight points from two Brown free throws and a three-point play by Mulrain. St. Francis Brooklyn began attacking the rim shortly after, taking back the lead thanks to four foul shots on the next two possessions. The advantage grew to five before another Mulrain layup stopped a 6-0 run; however, the Terriers closed the final minute with a 7-of-8 performance from the stripe to seal the win.
Stamolamprou was the only Colonial in double-figure scoring, tallying 13 points to go along with seven rebounds. In her first start since Nov. 16 at Lafayette, Mulrain provided seven points, four boards, and a trio of blocks.
"Mikalah did a good job defensively, especially early in the game," said Buscaglia. "She walled up and took their post presence out, which was good, but after we need to do a better job on the perimeter after taking their posts away."
"The things that we did today are fixable, but we have to understand that we have to find a true identity," added Buscaglia. "Everyone on the team has to know their role and get the most out of what they can do."
Palarino posted a double-double for the Terriers with 18 points (4-6 FG, 9-13 FT) and 11 rebounds.
During a halftime ceremony, 2007 alumnae Sugeiry Monsac became the first women's basketball player to be inducted into the RMU Ring of Honor.
Robert Morris is back at home on Monday, Jan. 9 at 7:00 p.m. when it hosts LIU Brooklyn.
