Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University women's basketball team is back in action after a two-week break when it travels to Wright State for a pair of Horizon League games on January 15-16. The Colonials saw four games in all canceled last weekend, as both UIC and replacement opponent Northern Kentucky had to pause basketball activities due to positive COVID-19 tests within their program. The Raiders are one of four Horizon League teams RMU has history with prior to joining the conference, as the teams faced each other previously in 1988, 2008, and 2009.
GAMES #7 & 8
Robert Morris Colonials (0-6, 0-6 HL) @ Wright State Raiders (7-3, 7-1 HL)
January 15-16, 2021 // 2:00 p.m. / 2:00 p.m. // Dayton, Ohio – WSU Nutter Center (8,000)
Live Video: ESPN+ (Fri. / Sat.) // Live Stats: WSURaiders.com
On-Air Talent: Justin Kinner, Scott Leo (Sat. only)
Game Notes: Robert Morris // Wright State
History w/ Wright State
Overall: 2-1 | Home: 1-0 | Away: 0-1 | Neutral: 1-0 | Streak: L1
Last Game: Nov. 25, 2009 – Dayton, Ohio – Wright State 58, Robert Morris 54
Robert Morris leads the all-time series against Wright State by a 2-1 margin, though the Raiders won the most previous meeting in 2009. The series has been contested on equal grounds, with one contest coming in Moon Township, one in Dayton, Ohio, and one on a neutral floor in Philadelphia.
WSU topped RMU, 58-54, in the last matchup on Nov. 25, 2009. The Colonials led at halftime by a 33-24 margin, but an Erica Richardson layup with 56 seconds remaining completed the comeback for the hosts. Angela Pace had a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double for RMU on 7-of-15 shooting, adding four assists and a pair of steals. Kristine Silaraja was also in double figures for the visitors, contributing 11 points (5-6 FG), three rebounds, and two steals.
In 2008, the Colonials took home the trophy at their own Thanksgiving Tournament with a 65-57 triumph over the Raiders. Monet Johnson earned Tournament MVP honors after leading the charge with 26 points (10-18 FG, 2-4 3PT, 4-5 FT), four rebounds, three assists, three steals, and a block. Kendra Williams provided 20 points (7-11 FG, 4-5 3PT, 2-2 FT) and three helpers in a full 40 minutes of work, while Pace nearly posted a quadruple-double with 11 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and seven steals. The seven steals are tied for the fifth most in single-game history at RMU.
Scouting the Raiders
Led by fifth-year head coach Katrina Merriweather, Wright State currently sits fourth in the league at 7-1 behind the three unbeatens, Milwaukee (8-0), IUPUI (6-0), and Northern Kentucky (4-0). The Raiders are 7-3 overall, dropping non-conference contests to Bradley (61-66) and No. 24 Michigan (59-82), before winning seven of their last eight games.
Junior guard Angel Baker leads WSU in scoring (13.4), free throw percentage (.773), assists (3.4), and steals (1.8) while seeing a team-high 32.8 minutes per game. Sophomore guard Jada Robinson is right behind her in the scoring column at 8.4 points per contest, while senior center Tyler Frierson has been incredibly efficient, averaging 7.4 points while shooting 54.7 percent, and team highs in rebounds (8.2) and blocks (1.1) despite averaging just 15.9 minutes per game.
The Raiders rank second nationally in offensive rebounds, pulling down an eye-popping 19.3 per game - just 0.1 off the national lead of Sam Houston State (19.4). WSU also ranks inside the top 30 in rebounding margin (+13.9, 11th), rebounds (45.50, 20th), and scoring defense (56.2, 29th). The Raiders struggle in three-point field goal percentage (.234, 311th), free throw percentage (.619, 293rd), three-point field goals (4.1, 291st), and assists (10.3, 283rd).
Take Your Best Shot
While RMU hasn't gotten off to the start it wanted to in 2020-21, its conference schedule hasn't done it favors. The combined league record of the Colonials' opponents - IUPUI, Milwaukee, Northern Kentucky - is 18-0, with that number jumping up to 25-1 when you factor in their matchups at Wright State this weekend.
Among all teams that have played at least four conference games and are still searching for their first win, RMU is one of three schools who have only played league unbeatens. In Conference USA (C-USA), UT San Antonio sits at 0-4 with losses to Rice (4-0) and North Texas (4-0), while in the Patriot League, Lafayette is 0-4 with defeats to Bucknell (4-0) and Lehigh (4-0). Both the Roadrunners and the Leopards have less daunting opponents on the slate this weekend, as UTSA plays Louisiana Tech (2-2 in C-USA) at home, while Lafayette takes on Loyola (Md.) (0-2 in PL) in a home-and-home.
The Veterans
RMU's Jan. 2 contest against IUPUI marked a milestone for senior duo
Nina Augustin and
Honoka Ikematsu, as that game was the 100th in both of their careers. The pair are two of three Colonials that are likely to hit the century mark this season, with classmate
Laura Carrasco (95 games) trailing both.
Both Augustin and Ikematsu have exemplified reliability over their careers, missing just two possible games each. Augustin played in all 33 games in both her freshman and sophomore seasons before missing a pair as a junior in 2019-20. Ikematsu sat out one game in both 2017-18 and 2018-19 before appearing in all 30 as a junior last season.
You Gotta Have Sol
Freshman forward
Sol Castro has emerged as a reliable option on both ends of the floor this season, and had possibly her best game as a collegian in RMU's last contest against IUPUI. Castro led the Colonials with a career-high 15 points on 7-of-15 shooting, adding four rebounds, an assist, block, and steal against the Jaguars' talented group of post players.
Through six games, Castro - the first RMU freshman to start a season opener since
Honoka Ikematsu on Nov. 11, 2017 at Michigan State - leads the team in minutes (25.8) and field goal percentage (.452), slots second in scoring (6.7) and steals (1.2), and fourth in rebounding (2.7) and assists (0.8). The Rio Colorado, Argentina product has scored in double figures twice this season, first doing so on Dec. 19 at Milwaukee with a 10-point (4-5 FG, 2-3 FT) performance.
Home Cookin'
2020-21 has been an unconventional season thus far, including with home-road game splits. RMU has only played six games thus far and finally played at home with the Jan. 1-2 weekend series against IUPUI, marking the first time as a varsity program that it had to wait until January to open the home slate.
In terms of number of games, the Colonials' four-game season-opening road swing was their longest since the 2014-15 season when they played their first five contests away from Moon Township. RMU is now 20-19 (.523) in home openers as a Division I program following its loss to IUPUI on New Year's Day.
The new UPMC Events Center helped the Colonials retain that homecourt advantage in 2019-20, as they went 12-3 (.800) in the venue's inaugural season - a mark that featured a 58-43 triumph over new Horizon League foe Youngstown State in the arena's debut.
Bench Brigade
The Colonial bench has started 2020-21 by outproducing the opponents' reserves, averaging 20.7 points per game and 5.0 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.
Going Back to Cali
Redshirt junior guard
Megan Callahan was a bright spot offensively in RMU's first 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 thanks to her performance against the Norse, she currently sits fifth all-time at RMU with a 37.6 percent conversion rate.
Callahan made all three of her attempts in the Dec. 13 tilt, finishing with nine points in 13 minutes. With one more trifecta, she will become the 16th Colonial to reach the century mark, joining her teammates
Honoka Ikematsu (161, 6th) and
Nina Augustin (107, 14th).
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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