Emmitsburg, Md. – Down 27-19 at halftime, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team used a 17-0 run to begin the third quarter and held steady after a late Mount St. Mary's surge to capture its fourth consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) regular-season championship with a 57-52 win over the Mountaineers this evening from Knott Arena.
Robert Morris (21-7, 16-1 NEC) is the first team since Saint Francis U from 2000-01 to 2004-05 to win at least a share of four straight NEC regular-season crowns, and also secures the top seed in next week's NEC Tournament. In what was their second meeting in 10 days, the Colonials were able to get revenge on Mount St. Mary's (19-10, 14-3 NEC), who snapped their 14-game winning streak and 39-game unbeaten run at home against conference opponents on Feb. 21.
"It was all about earning this win tonight by staying together when adversity came to us," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "It was our next game, and all our focus was on the game itself and nothing besides coming out and earning it. These long breaks have been tough for us this season, and we prepared well by learning from our prior failures. Our defense set a great tone early and we kept battling to execute on some big adjustments on both ends on the floor. I give Mount a great deal of credit for how well they are coached, and how hard they fought tonight. It was truly a battle."
A favorite for NEC Player of the Year, Nneka Ezeigbo had one of the best performances of her storied career this evening, leading all players with 24 points (8-13 FG, 8-9 FT) and 11 rebounds. She scored the first 11 points of the second half in the midst of that aforementioned 17-0 surge, and recorded 15 points in all over the final 20 minutes.
Both teams came out strong defensively, but RMU managed to go ahead 9-0 through six minutes thanks to four Ezeigbo points and buckets by Esther Castedo and Megan Callahan. Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu scored in the paint to make it 11-5 after a brief Mountaineer rally, but a trifecta from Michaela Harrison gave the hosts some momentum heading into the second quarter.
After Ezeigbo made 5-of-6 at the free throw stripe to begin the next stanza, Mount answered with 13 unanswered points to grab its first lead at 21-16. Isabella Posset briefly stopped the bleeding by splitting two foul shots, but the Mountaineers got two more trifectas to carry a 27-19 advantage into the break.
"It was a big moment for all of us," said Buscaglia of his team's 27-19 halftime deficit. "Our (halftime) talk had a lot of substance to where our struggles were and how we needed to come out and take it back at them. We had to be efficient with our adjustments, but it was also important to make sure we were going to leave our heart on the court tonight, and that we care about that more over everything. Our pace was great coming out and we executed very well to make that big run."
Ezeigbo took over to start the third, scoring on the first possession off a feed from Holly Forbes. The senior then pulled down a missed three and finished with contact, adding the freebie for a three-point play. Posset and Forbes found Ezeigbo inside for back-to-back buckets on the next two trips down the floor, then after the media timeout, the sophomore guard set up her center once more to put RMU ahead 30-27.
Castedo kept the run going with a trey and foul shot, while Nina Augustin provided a mid-range jumper to make it 36-27. After the hosts finally got back on the board with a free throw at 3:51, Callahan sank a pair at the line and Ezeigbo made another bucket inside to push the gap to double-digits for the first time. The gap was trimmed to seven at the third-quarter whistle after two Bridget Birkhead threes and an Ozzy-Momodu foul shot.
Mount wouldn't go away quietly, as it pulled within two pretty quickly with another Birkhead three and Kayla Agentowicz layup. Ezeigbo answered in the paint and then left it to her post partner Ozzy-Momodu, who finished inside to make it 45-39. Another Ozzy-Momodu layup and Castedo free throw would push the gap to nine, but Harrison and Agentowicz scored the next five points to make it a four-point game with 1:43 to play.
RMU kept it a two-possession game as Augustin made 3-of-4 at the chalk, but Harrison buried a trey with 28 seconds remaining to make it 51-49. After two Posset free throws, the Mountaineers' sophomore guard again sank a three-pointer to pull the hosts within one at 53-52. There would not be a third round of heroics however, as Augustin made two at the line and Posset stole the desperation inbounds pass to secure the Colonials' biggest victory of the season.
Mount St. Mary's converted just 28.8 percent (17-59) of its field goal attempts, but went 13-of-36 from beyond the arc. Harrison (5-15 FG, 5-11 3PT) led the hosts with 15 points.
Ezeigbo moved into eighth all-time at RMU in scoring with 1,331 points this evening, surpassing Sade Logan (2007-09).
This is the eighth NEC regular-season title for the Colonials, previously capturing or sharing the crown in 2006-07, 2007-08, 2009-10, 2013-14, 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19.
"I'm very proud of all our players, coaches, and support staff for all the effort in order to earn this regular season title," added Buscaglia. "It's a great testament to our hard work. As much as we'll enjoy this tonight, we have to be ready to get back to work quickly, as we still have a lot of work to do going forward."
With the win, RMU has clinched at least a berth to the Postseason Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), extending a program-record streak of five straight seasons with a national postseason appearance.
Robert Morris concludes the regular season on Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 p.m. against Saint Francis U. The Colonials are teaming up with Crawley's Creation and Be The Match to honor former university professor Dr. Rex Crawley during the game, and the Keystone State clash can be seen exclusively on ESPN+.
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