Kingston, R.I. – The Robert Morris University women's basketball team couldn't overcome a large first-half deficit, ultimately falling to Rhode Island, 71-59, this afternoon in non-conference play from the Thomas M. Ryan Center.
Robert Morris (4-5, 0-0 NEC) fall behind by as many as 25 points against Rhode Island (7-3, 0-0 A-10) before chipping away at the deficit, bringing it to as few as 10 points. The Colonials forced 21 turnovers – their sixth performance of 20 or more forced turnovers this season – and committed just six offensively, but were outrebounded, 57-32, and converted just 31.6 percent (24-76) of their field goal attempts.
"Rhode Island came out with a great energy and we fell behind early with some breakdowns defensively," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "I'm very proud of our team as the game went on to have the culture to keep fighting. We came up short today, but in the second half we kept pushing and continued to get better. That's something a coach always prides him or herself on, to get better as the game's going on and overcome the adversity of a slow start."
Nneka Ezeigbo finished with a team-high 20 points – the seventh 20-point effort of her career. Ezeigbo finished with 15 of her points in the second half on 6-of-9 shooting, and added six rebounds in 32 minutes. Esther Castedo was also in double-figures scoring, tallying 10 of her 12 points in the second half off the bench.
RMU fell behind 14-0 before a Honoka Ikematsu trey ended the opening drought. Ezeigbo and Castedo finished the second quarter with a free throw and jumper to trim the halftime deficit to 39-17, then the senior center went to work with nine straight points to make it 42-26.
A Dahomée Forgues three and Isabella Posset free throw pulled the Colonials with 12 with 5:43 left in the third quarter, but the Rams responded with a 7-0 run and carried an 18-point lead into the final frame.
Castedo and Posset traded four buckets to start the fourth quarter, inching RMU within 11 early on. URI pushed the gap back to 15 with a layup and two free throws, then a Posset trey made it 61-49 at the final media timeout. Nina Augustin sank a mid-range jumper with 3:43 remaining to pull the Colonials within 10 at 53-53, but that would be as close as they would make it.
"We have to keep making things tough at practice," said Buscaglia of his team's back-to-back slow starts. "We have to create different types of adversity. Sometimes a good start isn't just where we're shooting the ball well or scoring, we could be creating good shots and holding them to tough starts. We have to value what we value in practice every day, and learn from these times where we struggle in a game. We'll continue to work at that as a coaching staff, and it has to be player-driven for them to come to practice and do what's asked of them."
The Rams had three players post double-doubles, led by Davida Dale's 17-point, 14-rebound effort.
Posset swiped three steals defensively, her eighth performance of multiple steals this season.
Robert Morris continues a season-long five-game road trip on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 11:00 a.m. against Norfolk State.
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