Dayton, Ohio – Tied at 37-37 through three quarters, the Robert Morris University women's basketball team saw Wright State rip off an 11-2 run to begin the final stanza as the Colonials ultimately fell to the Raiders, 58-51, this afternoon from the WSU Nutter Center. RMU drops to 0-8 overall, and WSU moves to 9-3 overall and 9-1 in the Horizon League.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
After trimming an eight-point lead to two over the course of the second quarter, RMU saw the gap balloon to seven out of the break on a Tyler Frierson putback and K.K. White three-pointer. The Colonials responded with jumpers from Esther Castedo and Natalie Villaflor before the media timeout, and a Laura Carrasco steal and score cut the difference to 32-31 with 2:47 left in the frame. Frierson answered with a three-point play and Shamarre Hale finished a layup to push the gap to six a minute later, but back-to-back treys by Mackenzie Amalia and Sydney Palermo knotted the game at 37-37 with 10 minutes left to play.
QUOTABLE
"Congratulations to Wright State on their victory," said RMU head coach Charlie Buscaglia. "Our effort was great this weekend, and we keep working on using every moment to get better. The game had some runs where we would close the gap and make some great plays, but then allow a bad moment that resulted in a run for them to pull ahead. We can't allow breaks in halves and quarters to take away our relentless pursuit to keep our consistent pace that we work for each game."
THE DEFENSE (NEVER) RESTS
The Colonial defense forced 22 turnovers from Wright State this afternoon, marking the third time this season they have forced 20 or more mistakes from their opponent. Both yesterday and today's contest extended a streak of 169 consecutive games forcing double-digit turnovers, and 80 of those games have hit the met or surpassed the 20 mark.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED, PART TWO
Following the late surge by RMU, the Raiders answered with a pair of buckets in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. Dahomée Forgues responded with a jumper off an Augustin assist, and it seemed as if the visitors would tie the game again, but the senior guard was whistled for an iffy offensive foul on the fastbreak after a steal. WSU answered immediately with a 7-0 run off four Frierson points and a Jada Roberson three-pointer, making it 48-39 with 5:11 to play.
QUOTABLE
"We must use the moments where we failed as a ticket to learn and always recognize our positive improvements," added Buscaglia. "We are continuing to fight when moments get tough and that's extremely important. Humility is our top pillar, and we must stay humble by keeping our head high in these moments when it could be easy to put our head down. Our mentality continues to be keep knocking on the door and look to get a little better every day."
EVERYONE CONTRIBUTES
RMU used 10 different players this weekend and all of them showed up on the scoresheet in both contests. This is the third consecutive game that the Colonials have gotten at least one point from each player that checked in – previously RMU had gone 29 straight games without every player scoring. The last instance before this three-game run was on Nov. 27, 2019 against Pitt-Johnstown.
HIGH HONORS
Castedo paced the Colonials in scoring once again, netting eight points on 3-of-7 shooting. Forgues and Megan Callahan shared the rebounding lead with five apiece, and Augustin posted team highs with three assists and two steals. Frierson paced the Raiders with 13 points on 6-of-8 from the field, while Roberson posted a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double.
NEXT UP
RMU and Wright State will meet again next weekend, this time in Moon Township. The opening contest of the rubber series is set for Friday, Jan. 22 at 1:00 p.m. from the UPMC Events Center, and it can be seen on ESPN+.
Follow The Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
