Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University women's basketball team announces that it has received National Letters of Intent from Dahomée Forgues and Trinity Papamandjaris in the early signing period.
Forgues, hailing from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, is a talented guard from Joséphine-Dandurand High School. She comes from an athletic family, as her father, Stéphan, has played and coached for the Canadian national handball team, while one of her brothers, Trystan, won a Bol D'or championship with his CEGEP football team.
"(Dahomée) is an outstanding kid," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "When she came on her visit here, she just really jelled with the team. You could see right away that she was embracing the team, and the team started to embrace her, and (her father Stéphan) thought that was really special."
Suiting up for Dawson College on the club circuit, Forgues has helped lead the Lady Blues to won numerous medals. She won two silvers at Nationals, a third silver at the 2017 Provincials, and a gold medal at the 2018 Provincials – the last completing a perfect season. Forgues was named a First Team All-Star and League MVP in high school while also competing in flag football and figure skating, and garnered RSEQ Student-Athlete honors. She plans on studying business at Robert Morris.
"Basketball wise, she's outstanding," added Buscaglia of Forgues. "She's very explosive and skilled, with a really strong mid-range game and she's physical. She can go around the basket and has a great motor. She's very intelligent too, does well in school and cares about her academics. That's very important to us, so we're thrilled to have Dahomée come in and help her advance on and off the court."
Papamandjaris completes the Canadian duo, hailing from London, Ontario. She plays for Sir Frederick Banting Secondary in high school competition, winning three straight Senior Girls Basketball MVP awards, along with a track & field MVP in grade nine. Papamandjaris also competed in swimming in high school.
"When (Trinity) came on her visit, you could see the connection and it completely felt like a good match right from the beginning," said Buscaglia. "She's a tough kid, and with the development of her fundamentals and continuing to get stronger, she's a solid forward. Her coach, Allan Bush, is a great guy and was really excited about us being interested in her."
On the club circuit, Papamandjaris plays for the London Ramblers. She has won a JUEL championship in 2017 and collected three Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) All-Star plaudits. An accomplished student with additional honors in art, geography, Spanish, and science at Sir Frederick Banting, Papamandjaris plans on studying biology pre-med at Robert Morris.
"She's another outstanding student who really cares about her academics," added Buscaglia of Papamandjaris. "She'll handle (her planned major of biology pre-med) great. Her classes in high school are all advanced level and she does so well with them. Just with communicating with her, she's a very mature young lady."
Forgues and Papamandjaris add to a Canadian pipeline that has featured five NLI signees since November of 2013.
"Our culture is so important to us, and we don't sell you on who we are, we show you who we are," said Buscaglia. "When a student-athlete values that, it really solidifies our confidence because it's a two-way street … I'm really excited about these two coming in. They're both strong student-athletes and fit in well with us."
Robert Morris begins a four-game road trip on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 2:00 p.m. against Bowling Green.
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