Moon Township, Pa. – A 20-10 doubling in the third quarter pushed Kent State over the Robert Morris University women's basketball team this evening, as the Colonials fell, 54-46, from the North Athletic Complex.
Robert Morris (1-7, 0-0 NEC) owned a two-point halftime edge over Kent State (4-4, 0-0 MAC), holding the visitors to just 13.0 percent (3-23 FG) from the field over the opening 20 minutes. The Golden Flashes did manage to make 16 trips to the stripe in the first half, sinking 12 of them to keep the score close, and went 23-of-31 (74.2%) overall at the foul line compared to the Colonials' 7-of-10 (70.0%) effort.
"We didn't play a very clean game today," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "We needed a whole effort from everyone, and it wasn't there from the very beginning. We didn't start the game off with a good pace and got off to a sluggish start, when we could have had a nice lead in the first half. And although we still had a lead at halftime, we came out and turned the ball over to start the second half."
Sluggish was the right description for both teams to begin the game as the score sat at 3-3 through the opening four minutes. After an Ali Poole trifecta, Nneka Ezeigbo scored back-to-back baskets to put RMU ahead 7-3. Honoka Ikematsu followed a pair of KSU free throws with a three-pointer, then an Isabella Posset jumper preceded a Megan Carter foul shot to give the Colonials a 12-6 advantage after one.
With 6:40 left in the half, Nia Adams followed up her own miss from deep to give RMU its largest lead at 16-8. The Golden Flashes would respond by scoring 12 of the next 16 points to tie it at 20-20, but an Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu hook shot pushed the hosts back ahead at the break, 22-20.
Alexa Golden came out of the break with a layup and three-pointer for KSU, giving the visitors their first lead at 25-22. That advantage would reach 11 points before buckets by Ezeigbo and Ozzy-Momodu sandwiched an Asiah Dingle free throw to make it an eight-point game entering the final stanza.
Two more Golden free throws reestablished the double-digit gap at 42-32, but then Ezeigbo and Nadège Pluviose both found net to make it a two-possession contest. Poole briefly halted the run with a jumper, then Posset split two free throws, Pluviose put in her own miss, and Posset sank two more from the stripe to make it 44-41 with five minutes to play.
Lindsey Thall drilled a trey from the wing to give KSU some breathing room, but Posset answered with a trifecta of her own. Merissa Barber-Smith and Ezeigbo continued the tug-of-war with 1:38 on the lock, then Barber-Smith finished a Thall miss from deep and the Golden Flashes forced a turnover on the other end to stay ahead of good.
Ezeigbo reached double figures in scoring for the fourth consecutive game, scoring a season-high 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting to lead all players. Posset added 12 points, four assists, three rebounds, two blocks, and two steals in a team-high 32 minutes off the bench.
"Nneka (Ezeigbo) has to be someone who's a glue for us," said Buscaglia. "I thought today we did some things to free her up on the block, but we weren't playing free enough. She could have gotten those points with us playing free more, but she came through in a lot of stretches there. We need her to be that glue and stay mentally tough on both ends of the floor."
Golden paced the visitors with 11 points to go along with eight rebounds.
RMU forced KSU into 21 turnovers, its fifth time driving an opponent into 20 or more mistakes. The Colonials also held the Golden Flashes to 26.5 percent (13-49 FG) shooting from the field, the second time this season the defense has accomplished that feat.
Robert Morris continues its season-long six-game home stand on Saturday, Dec. 15 at noon when it hosts Pitt-Johnstown.
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