Highland Heights, Ky. – The Robert Morris University women's basketball team began its 2020-21 season and inaugural Horizon League campaign Saturday with a 61-33 defeat at Northern Kentucky. With the loss, the Colonials fall to 18-31 (.367) all-time in season openers.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
RMU and NKU traded points to start the game, with the Norse grabbing an early 7-6 advantage. Redshirt junior guard Megan Callahan and senior forward Holly Forbes scored on consecutive possessions to put the Colonials ahead 11-7 with 4:52 remaining in the opening frame, but the Norse responded with a 9-0 run that carried into the second quarter to make it 16-11. After the visitors pulled within one at 19-18 with jumpers by redshirt sophomore forward Sydney Palermo and senior guard Nina Augustin, NKU used another 9-0 run to take a 28-18 lead into halftime.
QUOTABLE
"Congratulations to Northern Kentucky on their victory," said RMU head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "Going forward we will continue to do all we can to be better and continue to work hard every day while following all the guidelines in place at all times. I am very proud of our program for doing all that is possible during these last few months while staying in faith. We are very blessed to come out our first time playing against an opponent this season without any major injuries."
BELLA KNOWS BEST
With four steals this afternoon, junior guard Isabella Posset moved past Elise James (1996-00) for 14th place in career steals at RMU. Posset, who now has 134 steals to her name, is averaging 2.1 per contest, good enough for fourth behind Sugeiry Monsac (2.9, 2004-07), Kathy Frederick (2.7, 1984-88), and Angela Pace (2.5, 2007-10).
CHECKING IN LATE
This afternoon's contest was RMU's latest season opener in its Division I timeline, one year after playing its earliest lidlifter on Nov. 5, 2019 at TCU. The Colonials had gone 278 days without playing a game, previously seeing the floor on March 9 against Wagner in the Northeast Conference (NEC) Tournament quarterfinals.
NEW TO RMU
Freshman forward Sol Castro was one of three Colonials to make their debut this afternoon, joining classmate Mackenzie Amalia and redshirt sophomore Sydney Palermo. Castro, who finished with two points, two rebounds, and a steal in 28 minutes, became the first rookie to start in their collegiate debut since teammate Honoka Ikematsu, who accomplished the feat on Nov. 11, 2017 at Michigan State. Palermo previously played eight games at Bowling Green as a freshman in 2018-19, and tallied two points, three rebounds, and a steal in 15 minutes off the bench. Amalia saw three minutes of action in the fourth quarter.
UP NEXT
RMU will play Northern Kentucky once again at 2:00 p.m. tomorrow. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPN+.
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