Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University women's basketball team closes the regular season with a pair of road games at Purdue Fort Wayne this weekend. The Colonials were off last weekend after their originally scheduled home series against Detroit Mercy was canceled following the suspension of the Titans' season in late January. The Mastodons were upended by Cleveland State on the road last weekend and are still searching for their first win of 2020-21.
RMU
currently sits as the ninth seed in next week's Horizon League Tournament. The league is seeding for its 11-team postseason based on adjusted league RPI, which factors league winning percentage, strength of schedule, and number of league games played, and weighs road wins more than home wins. The Colonials are currently slated to play Northern Kentucky in next Thursday's first round should the seeding hold. Wright State, who RMU split four games with in January, is currently the top seed.
GAMES #15 & 16
Robert Morris Colonials (3-11, 3-11 HL) @ Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (0-20, 0-18 HL)
February 19-20, 2021 // 2:00 p.m. / 12:00 p.m. // Fort Wayne, Ind. – Gates Sports Center (1,800)
Live Video: ESPN3 (Fri. / Sat.) // Live Stats: GoMastodons.com
Game Notes: Robert Morris // Purdue Fort Wayne
History w/ Purdue Fort Wayne
Overall: 0-0 | Home: 0-0 | Away: 0-0 | Neutral: 0-0 | Streak: N/A
Last Game: N/A
Robert Morris and Purdue Fort Wayne have never played each other. With the Colonials' move to the Horizon League this season, the Mastodons are seven league foes that RMU has never faced entering 2020-21, joining Detroit Mercy, Green Bay, IUPUI, Milwaukee, Oakland, and UIC.
Scouting the Mastodons
Fifth-year head coach Niecee Nelson leads Purdue Fort Wayne, who sit at 0-20 overall and 0-18 in the Horizon League. The Mastodons opened the season with losses to SIUE (50-66) and Evansville (60-70), and are one of four teams in the conference to play 18 league tilts, joining Wright State (15-3), Milwaukee (13-5), and Oakland (11-7). Only one of Purdue Fort Wayne's 20 losses have come by single digits, a 58-49 defeat at Oakland on Jan. 22.
Redshirt senior guard Sierra Bell leads the Mastodons in scoring, averaging 10.5 points per game, and ranks second in rebounding (4.4), assists (1.7), and steals (1.1). Sophomore guard Riley Ott is near Bell in the scoring category with 9.9 points per contest, and owns the top spot in assists (2.5) and minutes (29.2). Fellow second-year Shayla Sellers leads Purdue Fort Wayne defensively with per-game averages of 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks, and is shooting a team-best 31.0 percent from three.
The Mastodons rank among the top eight of the Horizon League in free throw percentage (.694, 6th), three-point field goals made (6.1, 6th), and turnover margin (-0.85, 8th). They are at the bottom of the league in scoring offense (52.1), field goal percentage (.333), field goal percentage defense (.474), three-point field goal percentage (.238), assists (9.20), and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.53).
You Gotta Have Sol
Rookie forward
Sol Castro has been terrific as of late, reaching double-figures scoring in six consecutive games with three double-doubles sprinkled in there. Castro is averaging 15.0 points on 49.4 percent shooting, 8.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.0 steals over this six-game stretch, and has established new single-game highs in points (23), rebounds (15), assists (4), and blocks (2). She is the first rookie since Anna Niki Stamolamprou to tally double-digit points in six consecutive contests, as Stamolamprou accomplished the feat twice during the 2013-14 campaign.
Castro currently leads RMU in scoring (9.9), rebounding (5.5), field goal percentage (.449), and minutes (29.2), and if that holds it would put her in a league of her own. The Rio Colorado, Argentina product would be the first freshman since Missy Spangler in 2001-02 to pace the Colonials in scoring, and first newcomer since Sugeiry Monsac in 2004-05 to top the team in points and rebounds. No other RMU freshman has ever led the team in rebounding and field goal percentage.
The forward's breakout started on the Jan. 22-23 weekend against Wright State, as she was named Horizon League Freshman of the Week after averaging 21.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks over the two contests. She became the first RMU player to receive a weekly award from the Horizon League, and the 15th different freshman in program history to garner a conference weekly honor.
Take Care
One area where RMU has shined in the 2020-21 season is taking care of the basketball. The Colonials give the ball up at an average of 14.0 times per game, which is the best mark in the Horizon League and ranks 60th nationally. If RMU continues at this rate, it would establish a new record for fewest turnovers per game in a single season, which was originally established in the 2005-06 season at 14.5 turnovers per contest.
The Colonials committed single-digit turnovers in three consecutive contests over Jan. 23-30, giving it up eight times against Wright State, then nine and seven times respectively the following weekend versus Youngstown State. This is the first time that has ever happened in program history, with RMU's most only other two-game stretch of nine or fewer turnovers coming on Jan. 26-28, 2008 when it committed nine each against St. Francis Brooklyn and Central Connecticut.
Light It Up
RMU's offense has really taken off as of late, averaging 68.2 points over the last five games with a 1.35 assist-to-turnover ratio. The Colonials established season highs in points (77) and field goal percentage (.500) on Feb. 6 at Oakland, with that kind of efficiency marking the first time since Jan. 2, 2020 at Central Connecticut that they converted at a 50 percent or better rate.
During this five-game stretch, RMU has raised its scoring offense number by 7.8 points and have seen 16 different double-digit scoring performances. Over their first nine contests, the Colonials had just seven different efforts of 10 or more points.
The Veterans
RMU has seen three of its seniors reach the 100-game milestone this season, as
Nina Augustin and
Honoka Ikematsu both met the mark on Jan. 2 against IUPUI, while
Laura Carrasco did so on Jan. 29 against Youngstown State. The trio are three of 32 players to play in at least 100 career games as Colonials.
With Augustin (108), Carrasco (103), and Ikematsu (100) all over the century mark, who is next to meet the milestone? Redshirt junior
Megan Callahan currently sits at 86 games, while true juniors
Natalie Villaflor and
Esther Castedo are at 77 and 76 contests, respectively.
Keep It (Almost) 100
Over his 13-year career at Robert Morris, Sal Buscaglia turned one of the worst NCAA Division I women's basketball programs into a mid-major power, sending RMU to a quartet of NCAA Tournaments (2007, 2008, 2014, 2016) as well as the 2010 Postseason WNIT and 2012 Postseason WBI. By his side the entire time was his son,
Charlie Buscaglia, who took over for his retired father in 2016-17 and has since raised the bar even further.
Coach B, as he is respectfully called, is five wins shy of the 100-win milestone, owning a 95-48 (.664) head coaching record. He became the first head coach in NEC history to win four consecutive Coach of the Year awards, and left the league tied for the lead in that department. Buscaglia was bestowed with the Best Coach designation in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's College Basketball Decade in Review in 2019, and set school records for most wins by a first-year head coach (22, 2016-17) and single-season wins (25, 2017-18).
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, and are 3-0 in 2020-21. All-time, RMU is 646-0 when holding the lead at the final whistle.
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