Moon Township, Pa. – Already with its fourth consecutive Northeast Conference (NEC) regular-season championship in hand, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team showed no drop off in its final tune-up before next week's conference tournament, routing Saint Francis U, 62-29, this evening from Peoples Court at the UPMC Events Center.
Robert Morris' (22-7, 17-1 NEC) fifth straight win over Saint Francis U (11-18, 9-9 NEC) was its most dominant during this stretch, as it held its in-state rival to 18.4 percent shooting (9-49), owned a 40-8 scoring advantage in the paint, and captured the largest margin of victory in the rivalry since Jan. 11, 2006, which was a 79-45 decision. SFU's 29 points are the fewest for a Colonial opponent since Feb. 28, 1980 against Chatham (W, 85-24), and tied for the third fewest since 1977-78 – the first season RMU competed at the AIAW level.
"I'm very proud of our team," said head coach Charlie Buscaglia, who donned a bow tie to honor late Robert Morris professor Dr. Rex Crawley. "Last year we were in this situation and didn't handle it very well. We were outworked (last season at Sacred Heart), and today was that challenge. When we're in this position, we have to be able to work and play hard, and it was nice to get a good lead, get some new faces in, and rest some players that have gotten bulk minutes. I'm very proud of the effort, we worked hard for 40 minutes."
The Red Flash started on the Colonials' heels, trailing by four after the first quarter. However, a quick 7-0 surge on the back of Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu over the span of 1:17 made it a double-digit gap at 28-16.
The 12-point gap carried into halftime, and RMU came out firing on all cylinders after the break. The hosts scored 10 unanswered points – all in the paint – to take a 40-19 advantage into the media timeout, then added onto that with four more buckets around the rim that extended the difference to 48-23 through three frames.
Honoka Ikematsu then added the finishing touches to the Colonials' 22nd win in the final stanza, scoring 12 of her game-high 17 points over the last 10 minutes. RMU held SFU to just 5-of-37 (13.5 percent) shooting over the second through fourth quarters, coming away with 16 points over that span compared to the 13 the visitors recorded in the opening frame.
Nneka Ezeigbo and Ozzy-Momodu both posted double-doubles for the second time this season, previously accomplishing this on Feb. 8 at Sacred Heart. Ezeigbo finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while her junior sidekick tallied 11 points and 12 caroms.
Ezeigbo moved up to seventh on the program leaderboard in scoring, leaping Stacy Ritter (1992-96). The senior now has 1,342 points and is five shy of surpassing Kim Mong (1981-85) for sixth. She also ranks fourth in rebounds (858), fifth in blocks (107), sixth in field goals (551), tied for seventh in games played (124), and eighth in steals (165).
The Colonials held a 33-17 advantage in bench scoring this evening, extending their record to 7-0 this season when they receive 30 or more points from their reserves.
This is the seventh time in 2019-20 that RMU has won by 30 or more points, adding to the school record.
The 17th NEC victory this season ties another program standard, previously set by the 2009-10 Colonials.
With tonight's results, RMU will face Wagner in the NEC Tournament quarterfinals. The Colonials are 10-1 as the No. 1 seed and 3-1 against the Seahawks in postseason play, although the two sides haven't squared off since the 2010 quarterfinals – a 68-52 triumph for RMU.
Robert Morris faces Wagner on Monday, March 9 at Peoples Court at the UPMC Events Center. Opening tip is at 7:05 p.m. and the game can be seen on NEC Front Row. Tickets are available now by calling the RMU Ticket Office at (412) 397-6413 or online at Ticketmaster. Prices are $9 for general admission and RMU students get in free by showing their Freedom Card.
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