Moon Township, Pa. – A strong defensive performance catapulted the Robert Morris University women's basketball team to victory in its home opener, a 67-39 triumph over La Salle this afternoon from an energetic North Athletic Complex.
Robert Morris (1-1, 0-0 NEC) held La Salle (0-2, 0-0 A-10) to just 22.2 percent (12-54 FG) from the field and 15.0 percent (3-20) from deep, also forcing 19 turnovers and owning a 51-37 edge on the glass. The Colonials again shot the ball well from deep, converting 45.8 percent (11-24) of their attempts.
"We had to keep our effort high," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "Even though early on we were missing some easy ones and could have hung our heads. I challenged them at halftime to not focus on that. As the game progressed, we started finishing the ball better and kept after it on defense. No matter what happens offensively – if we're missing easy ones, if you're not getting the best performance you want to have – you get it done on the defensive end."
The third quarter started off sluggish, with neither team scoring for the first 4:22. A pair of Shayla Sweeney free throws pulled the Explorers within 10 at 35-25, then four straight points from Honoka Ikematsu extended RMU's advantage to 39-25.
Ikematsu's buckets sparked a 17-2 run to end the frame. Esther Castedo followed that up with a trey, then found Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu in the paint for a layup. The Spaniard pulled down a rebound on the next possession, which set up an Isabella Posset jumper from the baseline.
La Salle picked up another two free throws from Sweeney to make it 46-27, but Posset answered with a trifecta on the next trip down the floor. After another Colonial defensive stop, Posset set up another trey, finding an open Castedo to stretch the hosts' advantage to 52-27 heading into the fourth.
RMU's largest lead came with 6:54 to play, as Laura Carrasco pulled down an offensive board and set up Posset for her second three-pointer of the contest, making it 60-29. The gap bounced between 26 and 30 points for the remainder of the contest, with a pair of Julia Chadwick free throws setting the final with 1:06 on the clock.
Posset and Castedo both tallied 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting to lead the Colonials. The former added three assists and two steals in 18 minutes, while the latter collected seven assists and four rebounds in 24 minutes.
"It was nice to see (Esther Castedo & Isabella Posset) get going," added Buscaglia. "Esther, right from the opening tip when she came into the game, was ready to go today. You can see she has that confidence to her, that cool confidence, when she shoots the ball. Isabella got into a nice flow today – I really feel like she was starting to let herself loose. I tell her and the rest of the team to play free, and she did just that – it was great to see."
Ozzy-Momodu pulled down a career-best 13 rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench.
Sweeney led La Salle with 11 points, but shot just 1-of-6 from the field.
Robert Morris concludes a two-game home stand on Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. against another Atlantic 10 foe, Rhode Island.
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