Highland Heights, Ky. – The Robert Morris University women's basketball team was swept in its opening weekend of Horizon League play, falling Saturday afternoon to Northern Kentucky, 62-50. RMU falls to 0-2 in the early season, while NKU moves to 2-4 after originally playing four non-conference games before the weekend.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Trailing 9-3 midway through the first quarter, RMU used a 12-3 lead to grab its only lead of the game at 15-12. Redshirt sophomore forward Sydney Palermo started the stretch with a layup, and freshman forward Sol Castro's jumper tied the game at 9-9. Fourth-year guard Megan Callahan followed that up with a pair of three-pointers that sandwiched an Ally Niece three-point play. However, NKU answered with an Ivy Turner jumper and Grayson Rose buried a trifecta and two free throws on the hosts' next two possessions to put them ahead 19-15 after 10 minutes.
QUOTABLE
"I'm very proud of the team to continue to fight until the end," said RMU head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "Our fourth quarter had a lot to do with having a relentless pursuit to find our pace, and a full heart. There are some screws to tighten up on both ends of the court. These last seven weeks have been a true test of handling adversity for our program, and it's a lesson to be thankful for the opportunity to come to work. My message is always to stay in faith, and when we get our opportunities to work our hardest to get a little better each day."
BENCH BRIGADE
RMU owned a 24-7 difference in bench points, with Callahan's nine points (3-3 3PT) outscoring the Norse reserves by herself. Esther Castedo added six points (3-6 FG) off the bench, while Natalie Villaflor and Palermo had five and four, respectively. Last season, the Colonials' reserves outscored their opponents in 24 contests, owning an 18-6 record in those games.
APPLE TURNOVERS
The Colonials defense turned the Norse over 21 times this afternoon, extending its streak to 163 consecutive games with 10 or more forced turnovers. Over that stretch, RMU have caused 20 or more turnovers on 78 instances. Last season, the Colonials finished 11th nationally in turnovers forced with an average of 21.17 per contest.
BELLA KNOWS BEST
After swiping four steals in yesterday's season opener, junior guard Isabella Posset netted three more in today's contest. The two performances give her 39 career games with multiple steals after accomplishing that 20 times in 2019-20 and 17 times in 2018-19. Posset is averaging 2.1 steals per game over her career, and is one of five players to be over the 2.0 mark in program history.
GOING BACK TO CALI
Redshirt junior guard Megan Callahan was a bright spot offensively over the weekend, going 5-of-7 (71.4%) from beyond the arc. Callahan, who was just 11-of-41 (26.8%) on three-pointers in 2019-20, hit all three of her attempts from deep this afternoon, finishing with nine points overall in 13 minutes. Her scoring season high last season was eight points on Jan. 4, 2020 at Merrimack.
UP NEXT
RMU remains on the road next weekend for another Horizon League series, as it plays Milwaukee at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 19. Both games can be seen on ESPN+.
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