Women's Basketball | 12/28/2019 7:44:00 AM
Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University women's basketball hits the midway point of its season-long five-game road trip on Sunday, Dec. 29 at 2:00 p.m. against James Madison. It will be the non-conference finale for both teams, as the Colonials look to finish above .500 before NEC play commences for the third time in five seasons. RMU returns to Peoples Court at the UPMC Events Center on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2020 against Wagner.
GAME #11
Robert Morris Colonials (5-5, 0-0 NEC) @ James Madison Dukes (8-2, 0-0 CAA)
Sunday, December 29, 2019 // 2:00 p.m. // Harrisonburg, Va. – Convocation Center (6,426)
Live Video: MadiZone // Live Stats: JMUSports.com
Notes Package: Robert Morris // James Madison
History w/ James Madison
Overall: 0-5 | Home: 0-2 | Away: 0-3 | Neutral: 0-0 | Streak: L5
Last Game: Dec. 30, 2018 – Moon Township, Pa. – James Madison 59, Robert Morris 36
This will be the sixth meeting between Robert Morris and James Madison, and it's a series that the Colonials are still searching for their first victory in. The Dukes have won the previous five matchups, four of which came between 1991-97.
RMU fell to JMU in last year's non-conference finale, 59-36. No one could get it going offensively against the CAA regular-season champions, with three Colonials sharing top scorer honors at six points each.
Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu was one of those three, and she added four rebounds and three steals in 21 minutes off the bench.
Scouting the Dukes
James Madison was one of the top mid-major programs in women's basketball before fourth-year head coach Sean O'Regan took over, and he has continued that run. The Dukes are again enjoying a successful season, owning an 8-2 record with their only blemishes coming against No. 8 Maryland (68-70) and Virginia (49-55). JMU is currently No. 6 in the Collegeinsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
Senior guard Kamiah Smalls, who scored her 1,000th career point last December at Robert Morris, leads the Dukes in scoring (19.7 PPG), free throw percentage (.850), assists (27), and steals (23). Smalls is shooting at a 49.3 percent clip from the field and 40.4 percent from deep. Redshirt senior guard Jackie Benitez is also averaging double figures in points at 11.4 per game, while fellow fifth-year Kayla Cooper-Williams ranks sixth nationally in blocks per game (3.40).
James Madison employs one of the strongest defenses in the nation, slotting 10th in blocked shots (6.0), 52nd in scoring defense (57.2), and 62nd in field goal percentage defense (.360). The Dukes also rank 64th in three-point field goals (7.5), 65th in scoring margin (+11.0), and 70th in rebounding margin (+5.5), but come in near the bottom in assist-to-turnover ratio (0.64, 269th) and assists (10.1, 313th).
Comeback Kids
Down 47-36 entering the fourth quarter last Wednesday at Norfolk State, Robert Morris staged a furious comeback to force overtime and then took over in the extra frame, ultimately earning a 69-62 road win over the Spartans. The Colonials trailed by as many as 13 points in the third quarter.
RMU's double-digit comeback was the first of its kind since Feb. 17, 2018, when it made up a 10-point deficit to defeat Fairleigh Dickinson, 62-49. Four Colonials tallied double figures scoring, including junior guard
Honoka Ikematsu, who scored nine of her team-high 15 points in overtime.
Catching Fire
RMU had struggled shooting the ball entering its matchup at Norfolk State on Dec. 18, but reversed course in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Colonials closed out their 69-62 comeback win by sinking their final seven three-point attempts, and finished with a 61.1 percent conversion rate - the fifth highest in single-game program history.
Both
Isabella Posset and
Honoka Ikematsu went 4-for-5 from deep in the victory. Posset sank three straight trifectas in the fourth quarter before fouling out, setting Ikematsu up to bury three of her own in the frame and overtime. The junior guard from Japan also converted a trey with her left hand in the first quarter as the shot clock expired.
The Defense (Never) Rests
Robert Morris prides itself on its defense and this season is no different. The Colonials rank eighth in turnovers forced (23.70), ninth in turnover margin (+8.40), and 23rd in steals (11.6) - all of those numbers topping the conference circuit.
Last season, RMU slotted 12th in the NCAA in scoring defense (55.3), 24th in turnovers forced (20.18), 26th in turnover margin (+4.18), and 32nd in steals (9.9). The Colonials have posted a top-25 scoring defense in each of the last three seasons, coming in at 25th in 2016-17 (57.0), and eighth in 2017-18 (54.1). The 2017-18 mark in a school record, breaking the previous standard set the year prior.
RMU is in the midst of an impressive streak, causing double-digit turnovers in each of its last 141 games. In 65 of those contests, the Colonials have forced 20 or more turnovers from their opponent - a number that includes seven such instances this season.
No Easy Outs
There hasn't been an easy out in the early stages of the Colonials' schedule, as their seven opponents have combined to post a 67-51 (.568) record thus far. TCU is 9-1 and has only been beaten by No. 11 Texas A&M (70-68), while Columbia (7-3), Pitt-Johnstown (7-4), Rhode Island (7-4), Youngstown State (7-4), Kent State (6-4), La Salle (6-6), and Norfolk State (6-6) all have record at or above .500.
Three of RMU's five losses this season have come by a combined eight points. The remainder of the non-conference slate features James Madison, who is 8-2 and No. 6 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 Poll. At the moment, only Xavier (1-10) and Delaware (3-7) have losing records on the Colonials' schedule.
Insurmountable Lead
Robert Morris has never lost a game in which it has held the lead at the end of the second half. The Colonials are 5-0 in such situations this season, and went 22-0 last season. All-time, RMU is 625-0 when holding the lead at the final whistle.
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