Moon Township, Pa. – For the first time since the 1983-84 season, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team held its opponent to 30 points, as the Colonials flexed their defensive muscle in a 63-30 win over Pitt-Johnstown this morning on Career & Education Day at Peoples Court at the UPMC Events Center.
Robert Morris (3-3, 0-0 NEC) last limited Saint Francis U to 30 points in an 88-30 win during the 1983-84 campaign, a triumph that featured the program's third largest margin of victory. This morning's 33-point triumph is 55th 30-point win in program history and moves the Colonials to 10-3 since 2011-12 in contests that have begun before 11:30 a.m. local time.
"We worked hard most of the game," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "We had some moments where we had to tighten up, and there were times in the second half where they were getting to the basket, but the effort was there. We earned a lot of the (35 Pitt-Johnstown) turnovers from passion and work ethic. A good game defensively for us, for sure."
GALLERY: Robert Morris 63, Pitt-Johnstown 30
All 12 RMU players that played made it onto the scoresheet, with Nneka Ezeigbo and Isabella Posset scoring 10 points each to lead the way. Ezeigbo added six rebounds and two steals in 17 minutes, while Posset provided four steals and a pair of assists. Dahomée Forgues made her first career start and chipped in with nine points, three assists, and two rebounds in team-high 26 minutes of action.
The Colonials scored the first seven points off four Ezeigbo free throws and a Nina Augustin trifecta. Pitt-Johnstown (6-1, 2-0 PSAC) tallied its only points of the frame with two Maddie Shanahan foul shots to make it 7-2, then RMU finished on a 10-0 run with Holly Forbes recording her only four points over the stretch.
The gap grew to 21-2 with two points each from Megan Callahan and Esther Castedo, then the Mountain Cats' Olivia Fasick provided the visitors' first field goal of the day with 6:14 remaining in the half. She added another trey to make it 26-8, but the Colonials answered with buckets from Forgues and Ozzy-Momodu, along with a Honoka Ikematsu trifecta.
RMU kept adding to its advantage, getting Forgues and Ezeigbo baskets and a Posset free throw to make it 38-8 early in the third quarter. The lead reached a game-high 38 points at 49-11 with another Forgues layup, and never dipped below 31 points from there.
Forbes scored the fewest points (4) of her young Colonial career, but did everything else and paced the home team with 13 rebounds and five steals.
RMU forced 35 turnovers from the Mountain Cats, a season-high and the most since it forced 36 against Kent State on Nov. 15, 2011. The Colonials also collected 23 steals, the most since Feb. 22, 1996 at St. Francis Brooklyn and tied for the second most in single-game program history.
UPJ, who counted today's game as an exhibition, was led by Gabrielle Smith's nine points and eight rebounds.
Robert Morris continues a three-game home stand on Sunday, Dec. 1 at noon when it hosts Big East opponent Xavier. It will be the first time since Dec. 6, 2005 that the Colonials have welcomed a team from the Big East to Moon Township.
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