Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. – For the third consecutive season, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team finished with an undefeated record in the month of January as it completed an 8-0 stretch with a 70-59 victory at St. Francis Brooklyn this evening in Northeast Conference (NEC) play from the Generoso Pope Athletic Complex.
Robert Morris (13-6, 8-0 NEC) is now three wins shy of matching its best conference start of 11-0, which was established last season after that squad topped the previous record of 9-0 from 2017-18. The Colonials tied a season-high in bench scoring with 34 points, and moved to 15-1 since 2016-17 when their reserves score 30 or more points.
"It's great to complete the road trip with a hard-fought win and embrace some tough moments again tonight," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "Much credit goes to St. Francis Brooklyn for playing hard for 40 minutes - Coach (Linda) Cimino really has her team fighting on every possession."
Isabella Posset led RMU with 15 points (6-10 FG, 3-7 3PT) – her sixth double-digit point performance in NEC play – and three steals, while Nina Augustin added 12 points (4-9 FG, 3-5 3PT) and five assists off the bench. Nneka Ezeigbo tallied 10 points (4-8 FG) and eight rebounds in the post, and Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu registered eight points, nine caroms, and three steals.
Augustin gave the Colonials a two-point edge after 10 minutes with a last-second trey. That sparked a 17-0 rally that carried into the second quarter, with Ezeigbo, Augustin, and Esther Castedo providing the scoring over the 6:02 period.
RMU's largest lead came with 8:37 remaining in the third frame when Holly Forbes drove baseline and scored underneath. St. Francis Brooklyn (5-14, 1-7 NEC) answered with a 28-17 difference over the next 12 minutes to pull within six, but layups from Ezeigbo and Ozzy-Momodu along with a foul shot pushed the gap back to double-digits.
The Colonials owned a 40-26 difference on the glass and earned 13 second-chance points to the Terriers' four.
Ally Lassen led the hosts with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
Now with a 2.5-game lead in the NEC standings, Robert Morris returns home to start a new month on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 4:00 p.m. when it hosts Central Connecticut at Peoples Court at the UPMC Events Center.
"I'm very proud of our student-athletes to stay in the moment and embrace each day with the passion to get better," added Buscaglia of RMU's third straight unbeaten January. "We must keep coming to work each day and always be there to serve each other as our priority. We still have a lot of work to do."
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