Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University women's basketball team began its quest for a third consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) regular-season title with a 70-58 triumph over Mount St. Mary's this afternoon from the North Athletic Complex.
Robert Morris (4-8, 1-0 NEC) moves to 14-1 in its last 15 league lid-lifters, with this win being the 10th one by double-digits over that span. Mount St. Mary's (6-6, 1-0 NEC) entered the afternoon with the conference's top record and ranked second in the NEC in field goal percentage (.421), assists (13.8), and three-pointers made (9.1), but the Colonial defense held the visitors to 31.4 percent shooting, four assists, and just three treys made.
"We had a good three days of practice, went through a lot of video footage on where we needed to be better," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "I was confident that we were going to respond today just by the way we practiced. We practiced hard and were very accountable. I told the staff that I thought we'd play very hard today, and that's all I ask for, to play hard, smart, and free. It got crazy at the end and we need to handle that better, but it was a good response."
RMU took control of the game in the second quarter after a Juliette Lawless three-pointer put Mount St. Mary's ahead, 13-12, after one. The hosts came out of the break with a Honoka Ikematsu trifecta, followed by an Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu layup – both off feeds from Nina Augustin. After an extended Mountaineer possession ended in a zero, Augustin found Nia Adams on the wing for three, making it 20-13.
The run continued after a Mount St. Mary's timeout as RMU forced a shot clock violation and got an Ozzy-Momodu bucket on the other end. Augustin then sank a pair of free throws before a Bridget Birkhead three ended the 12-0 run.
The Colonials' largest lead of the contest came in the closing stages of the third quarter as a Nneka Ezeigbo layup closed a 7-1 stretch to set the score at 47-30. The Mountaineers answered with six unanswered points to close the frame, then added two more before another Ozzy-Momodu layup broke a brief scoreless drought.
Mount St. Mary's had one more run in them, trimming the deficit to 62-58 with 1:25 remaining. Ezeigbo put a halt to their comeback attempt with an old-fashioned three-point play, then Posset sank four free throws to put the game away.
Ozzy-Momodu led RMU with a career-high 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting, adding eight rebounds and two blocks in 18 minutes off the bench. Posset filled the stat sheet in her first taste of NEC play, tallying 13 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and two steals.
Lawless led all scorers with 28 points on 7-of-11 field goals and 12-of-15 free throws.
The Colonials forced 22 turnovers on the afternoon, making the Mountaineers the eighth opponent to commit 20 or more mistakes.
RMU moves to 21-13 all-time in NEC openers and has now won 12 straight games against Mount St. Mary's.
"We need to be able to handle a win now and be able to come back," said Buscaglia. "We have to handle winning and losing with the same work ethic and mentality, no matter what. If we go out there Monday and play with this energy and effort, and correct the things we did wrong, we'll continue to grow and put another brick on our foundation."
Robert Morris closes its season-long six-game home stand on Monday, Jan. 7 at 7:00 p.m. when it hosts Fairleigh Dickinson.
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