Moon Township, Pa. – According to poll of Horizon League head coaches, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team has been picked to finish fifth in its inaugural season in the league, as announced by the conference on Friday afternoon.
Reigning Horizon League champion IUPUI was named the preseason favorite, having received all 12 first-place votes. Green Bay (120), Wright State (118), Northern Kentucky (105), RMU (88), and Youngstown State (84) make up the remainder of the poll's top half, followed by Milwaukee (76), Cleveland State (64), Oakland (54), Detroit Mercy (38), Purdue Fort Wayne (24), and UIC (21). IUPUI's Macee Williams was tabbed the Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year.
RELEASE: IUPUI Voted #HLWBB Favorite, Williams Named Preseason Player of the Year
RMU, led by fifth-year head coach Charlie Buscaglia, returns five players that started 15 or more games and 10 letterwinners overall. Junior guard Isabella Posset, a two-time All-Northeast Conference (NEC) selection, and senior forward Holly Forbes both started all 30 games in 2019-20, while sophomore guard Dahomée Forgues (22 starts), senior guard Honoka Ikematsu (15 starts), and senior guard Nina Augustin (15 starts) all appeared in the starting lineup in at least half of the Colonials' contests last season.
Posset, hailing from nearby Beaver, Pa., has started 55 of 63 career games since arriving at RMU. As a sophomore, she led the team in minutes (26.6) and steals (2.3), topping the NEC in the latter category. The All-NEC Third Team selection became the fourth fastest player in program history to reach 100 career steals in 2018-19, swiping a career-high eight against Sacred Heart on Jan. 20 – tied for the second most among school single-game standards.
Augustin and Forbes headline a five-player returning senior class alongside redshirt junior Megan Callahan, Laura Carrasco, and Honoka Ikematsu. In addition to the 10 returning letterwinners, the Colonials welcome four freshmen (Mackenzie Amalia, Riley Arrigo, Sol Castro, Yasmine Sifaoui) and redshirt sophomore forward Sydney Palermo, who is eligible after sitting out 2018-19 following her transfer from Bowling Green.
Augustin, a product of Helsinki, Finland, made the 2019 NEC All-Tournament Team and established a new single-season record for free throw percentage (.894) last season. Forbes, a second-year transfer from Mineral Area College, ranked third on the Colonials in field goal percentage (.412), rebounding (5.2), steals (1.3), and minutes (23.3). Ikematsu, hailing from Kumamoto, Japan, enters the 2020-21 campaign slotted fifth all-time in three-point percentage (.376) and sixth in three-point field goals made (161).
RELATED: RMU Sets 2020-21 Horizon League Schedule
Since 2013-14 among mid-major programs, RMU ranks second in conference tournament titles (4), third in NCAA Tournament appearances (4), fourth in regular-season titles (5), ninth in conference wins (101), 14th in conference winning percentage (.802), 15th in postseason appearances (5), 16th in overall wins (150), and 19th in overall winning percentage (.661).
The Colonials have met the 20-win standard in all four seasons under Buscaglia, who has posted a 92-37 (.713) during his tenure. RMU captured four consecutive NEC regular-season championships (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) and a pair of NEC Tournament titles (2017, 2019), and has also appeared in two NCAA Tournaments (2017, 2019) and the 2018 Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
RMU has also thrived in the classroom, serving as the only Division I program to rank inside the top four of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Top 25 Honor Roll four years rolling. In July of 2020, the Colonials joined the Horizon League in 10 of its 16 intercollegiate athletic programs.
| 2020-21 #HLWBB Preseason Poll Results |
| 1. |
IUPUI (12 first-place votes) |
144 |
| 2. |
Green Bay |
120 |
| 3. |
Wright State |
118 |
| 4. |
Northern Kentucky |
105 |
| 5. |
Robert Morris |
88 |
| 6. |
Youngstown State |
84 |
| 7. |
Milwaukee |
76 |
| 8. |
Cleveland State |
64 |
| 9. |
Oakland |
54 |
| 10. |
Detroit Mercy |
38 |
| 11. |
Purdue Fort Wayne |
24 |
| 12. |
UIC |
21 |
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