Moon Township, Pa. – In a physical back-and-forth contest, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team succumbed to a fourth-quarter run by Rhode Island, falling to the Rams, 46-41, this evening from the North Athletic Complex.
Robert Morris (1-2, 0-0 NEC) struggled offensively, shooting just 22.2 percent (12-54) from the field and 29.2 percent (7-24) from beyond the arc. Rhode Island also went through a rough patch offensively, but converted 7-of-14 field goals in the final 10 minutes to come away with the victory.
"Give the credit to Rhode Island, they earned the victory," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "We have to get better at a lot of things right now and go back to work. It was a sloppy game and we never found our pace, and we weren't tough enough down the stretch."
A pair of Nneka Ezeigbo free throws gave the Colonials their biggest lead of the contest at 35-27 with 9:25 left, but the Rams answered with a 7-0 run to pull within one. Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu stopped the bleeding with a bucket; however, the visitors answers with a Davida Dale foul shot and Elemy Colome jumper to make it 37-37 with 4:45 to go.
Three turnovers were committed in a quick span following the media timeout, then Colome converted on the fast break to put Rhode Island ahead. That advantage stretched to 43-37 under a minute until a Nina Augustin free throw halted a scoreless drought for RMU. Despite making just 3-of-6 free throws down the stretch, the visitors found enough on the defensive end to not allow the Colonials to make it a one-possession contest.
"You're going to have days where you're off shooting," added Buscaglia. "We second-guessed a lot of things. We had an opportunity to build on some momentum, but just never played with that pace and toughness that we needed. It wasn't our brand, and we have to get back out there and work on it."
Honoka Ikematsu led RMU with nine points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep. Nneka Ezeigbo added eight points and seven rebounds from the center spot.
Colome paced all players with 17 points.
The Colonials forced a season-high 27 turnovers defensively, but committed 22 on the offensive end.
Robert Morris begins a four-game road swing on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 2:00 p.m. when it travels to Bowling Green.
Follow the Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
