Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University women's basketball team closes out the calendar year by looking to rebound this weekend in a Horizon League series at Milwaukee. The Colonials had an unconventional opening weekend in Northern Kentucky, with the series announced the Thursday prior following a positive COVID-19 test in the Youngstown State program. Meanwhile, the Panthers have gotten off to a flying start in 2020-21, sweeping Green Bay last weekend to tack onto their 5-1 record.
GAMES #3 & #4
Robert Morris Colonials (0-2, 0-2 HL) at Milwaukee Panthers (5-1, 2-0 HL)
December 19-20, 2020 // 1:00 p.m. // Milwaukee, Wisc. – Klotsche Center (3,000)
Live Video: ESPN+ (Saturday / Sunday) // Live Stats: StatBroadcast (Saturday / Sunday)
On-Air Talent: Matt Menzl (play-by-play)
Game Notes: Robert Morris // Milwaukee
History w/ Milwaukee
Overall: 0-0 | Home: 0-0 | Away: 0-0 | Neutral: 0-0 | Streak: N/A
Last Game: N/A
Robert Morris and Milwaukee have never played each other. With the Colonials' move to the Horizon League this season, the Panthers are seven league foes that RMU has never faced, joining Detroit Mercy, Green Bay, IUPUI, Oakland, Purdue Fort Wayne, and UIC.
Scouting the Panthers
Guided by ninth-year head coach Kyle Rechlicz, Milwaukee has gotten off to a 5-1 start with victories over Ball State (67-56) at home, and Bradley (65-60), Marquette (64-55), and Green Bay twice (61-58, 59-51) on the road. The Panthers' only defeat came in a 64-62 nail-biter at Bowling Green on Dec. 6. Milwaukee was selected to finish seventh in the Horizon League this season according to a preseason poll of the league's head coaches.
Redshirt sophomore forward Megan Walstad is the reigning Horizon League Player of the Week, and is averaging a double-double at 12.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. Walstad is shooting 46.7 percent from the field, has made all 13 of her free throw attempts, and also averages 1.3 blocks per contest. Senior guard Sydney Staver missed the first two tilts of the season, but averages 11.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in 25.6 minutes per game. Staver's classmate Brandi Bisping is one of three Panthers to start all six contests, and provides 9.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game.
Through six contests, Milwaukee is among the nation's best in free throw percentage (.850, 5th), scoring defense (57.3, 44th), and three-point field goal defense (.241, 52nd). The Panthers are in the bottom half of the nation in personal fouls (19.8, 228th), turnover margin (-2.83, 237th), blocks (2.0, 241st), turnovers forced (13.00, 266th), and steals (5.2, 287th).
Sol Starts
Freshman forward
Sol Castro became the first RMU freshman since
Honoka Ikematsu to start in her inaugural collegiate game when she appeared in the starting five in the Colonials' season opener at Northern Kentucky last Saturday. Castro, who also started Sunday's tilt, finished her debut with two points, two rebounds, and a steal in 28 minutes.
Ikematsu was the last first-year to start an opener for RMU, doing so on Nov. 11, 2017 at Michigan State. Senior forward
Holly Forbes - a junior college transfer from Mineral Area (Mo.) College - was also a starter in her RMU debut last season, netting 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, four rebounds, two steals, and a block in 27 minutes at TCU.
Bella Knows Best
Junior guard
Isabella Posset has been one of the team's most reliable players since arriving on campus for the 2018-19 season. The two-time All-NEC selection has appeared in all 65 games over since her collegiate debut - starting 57 consecutive - and has flourished on both ends of the floor.
The Beaver High School product led the NEC in steals last season with an average of 2.3 per game, serving as the only player in the conference to be above a 2.0 mark. She became the fourth fastest in program history to hit the century mark in swipes, and netted the second most in single-game annals on Jan. 20, 2020 with eight against Sacred Heart. Posset netted seven steals over the weekend at Northern Kentucky, bumping her career average to 2.1 - good for fourth all-time at RMU.
Offensively, Posset trails just
Nina Augustin for the most double-digit scoring performances among active Colonials with 24. She ranked third on the team in scoring (7.9) last season and paced the team in assists (2.7) as a freshman. Posset also has led the team in minutes played the last two seasons, averaging 25.9 in 2018-19 and 26.6 in 2019-20.
Going Back to Cali
Redshirt junior guard
Megan Callahan was a bright spot offensively in RMU's series at Northern Kentucky, as she went 5-of-7 (71.4%) on three-point attempts. Callahan went just 11-of-41 (26.8%) on three-pointers in 2019-20, but with her performance against the Norse, she moved into the fifth spot all-time at RMU with a 37.9 percent conversion rate.
Callahan made all three of her attempts in Sunday's tilt, finishing with nine points in 13 minutes. With four more trifectas, she will become the 16th Colonial to reach the century mark, joining her teammates
Honoka Ikematsu (161, 6th) and
Nina Augustin (103, 14th).
The Defense (Never) Rests
Robert Morris prides itself on its defense and 2019-20 was no different. The Colonials finished the season ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense (52.6), 10th in three-point field goal defense (.266), 11th in turnovers forced (21.17), 12th in field goal percentage defense (.346), 17th in turnover margin (+5.57), 20th in steals (10.7), 31st in scoring margin (+12.4), 76th in rebounds (39.70), and 79th in rebounding margin (+4.0). RMU's scoring defense, scoring margin, and field goal percentage defense are all school records.
The Colonials have ranked inside the top 25 of scoring defense in each of the last four seasons, placing 25th in 2016-17 (57.0), eighth in 2017-18 (54.1), and 12th in 2018-19 (55.3) before achieving last season's sixth ranking (52.6). RMU is also in the midst of an impressive streak, causing double-digit turnovers in each of its last 163 games. In 78 of those contests, the Colonials have forced 20 or more turnovers from their opponent - a number that included 19 such instances last season and one this season.
Bench Brigade
The Colonial bench has started 2020-21 by outproducing the opponents' reserves, averaging 20.5 points per game and 10.0 more than who they are facing. Last season, the group averaged 24.4 points per contest and 10.8 more than their opponents'. RMU's reserves tallied double-digit points in 27 consecutive games and 29 contests overall, and hit the 20-point mark in 17 of the last 19.
Charlie Buscaglia has always had a strong bench since taking over as head coach in 2016-17. RMU received 23.5 points per game from its reserves in 2018-19 and 20.0 in 2017-18.
The Colonial bench scored 30 or more points six times last season, highlighted by hitting a season-high 39 points on Feb. 1, 2020 against Central Connecticut. Since 2016-17, RMU is 19-1 when it receives 30 or more points from its reserves.
Checking In Late
What a difference a year makes. 404 days after playing its earliest season opener in program history, RMU played its latest season opener in its Division I timeline when it tipped off on Saturday, Dec. 12 at Northern Kentucky.
The last time the Colonials' began a season in December was the 1992-93 campaign, when on Dec. 3 they fell at home to No. 22 North Carolina, 54-39. RMU's last win in a December lidlifter came in 1986-87, an 80-64 triumph over Canisius on Dec. 2.
All-time, the Colonials are 18-31 in season openers and have now dropped four straight. RMU nearly pulled a historic upset in last year's opening tip, falling 66-61 to a TCU team that went 22-7 and finished second in the Big 12. The Colonials' last season-opening triumph came to begin the 2016-17 season, a 69-52 win over Point Park on Nov. 11, 2016.
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 were 23-0 in such situations last season. All-time, RMU is 643-0 when holding the lead at the final whistle.
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