Brooklyn, N.Y. – The Robert Morris University women's basketball team captured its sixth straight victory as a 32-16 difference in points in the paint helped lift the Colonials over LIU Brooklyn, 64-54, this evening in Northeast Conference (NEC) action.
The win also marked Robert Morris' (14-9, 9-3 NEC) sixth consecutive in Brooklyn and moves the Colonials into a tie for second place in the NEC standings. RMU closed the game out by shooting 46.2 percent (6-of-13) from the floor and making all 10 of its attempts at the free throw stripe.
"We walked out of the game today and had to pick it up as the game went on," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "We didn't come out strong, but we did just enough to win the game."
Anna Niki Stamolamprou posted the sixth double-double of her career, tallying a game-high 28 points – 15 of which came in the fourth quarter – and 10 rebounds. Mikalah Mulrain added 12 points for her third consecutive double-digit scoring performance, while Rebeca Navarro registered 10.
"I tried my best to mix things up because we weren't playing our best basketball. We were looking to find who was doing well at that moment and Anna Niki [Stamolamprou] responded well down the stretch, Mikalah Mulrain contributed around the basket, but it's something we have to work on more. We need to play more together with continuity and outwork opposing teams by making hard for them to defend us."
The Colonials fell behind LIU Brooklyn (4-19, 3-9 NEC) early, trailing by as much as six points in the opening frame. However, RMU trimmed the deficit to one by the end of the quarter, thanks to a fadeaway by Ja'lynn Burton-Jones that beat the buzzer.
Jocelynne Jones put the Colonials ahead with a jumper from the wing, followed by a pair of layups from Mulrain. RMU would hold the Blackbirds without a field goal in the stanza and stretched its advantage to 11 after Nneka Ezeigbo joined Burton-Jones in beating triple zeroes.
"That's the kind of defense and accountability we can play with," said Buscaglia, referring to the second quarter. "We spend a lot of time working on our defense, because that's the backbone of our team. When we play that way with accountability and passion, and we have five players on the court playing a team defense, we can do some nice things as we've done throughout the season. We've held teams to low scoring totals and shooting percentages and we hang our hat on that."
After the lead reached 41-29 with 3:39 remaining in the third quarter, LIU Brooklyn responded with seven consecutive points to make it a five-point difference. Thanks to the aforementioned 10-for-10 performance from the line over the final 10 minutes, RMU would keep it at least at a two-possession difference for the remainder of the contest.
Stamolamprou has now scored 67 points against LIU Brooklyn this season after tying the single-game program record with 39 on Jan. 9.
This was the Colonials' sixth straight victory in Brooklyn.
Robert Morris returns home for a two-game home stand, starting on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 1:00 p.m. against Wagner. Prior to the game, the Colonials will celebrate the careers of their three seniors (Janee Brown, Rebeca Navarro, Anna Niki Stamolamprou) as a part of Senior Day festivities.
