GAME 18
RMU (7-10) vs. Oakland (9-8)
Friday, January 28, 2022 • 7:00 p.m.
UPMC Events Center • Moon Township, Pa.
TV: ESPN+

Talent: Adam Gusky (pxp) and Justin Pyles (color)
Twitter: @RMUWBasketball • Instagram: RMUWBasketball

GAME 19
RMU (7-10) vs. Detroit Mercy (0-18)
Sunday, January 30, 2022 • 1:00 p.m.
UPMC Events Center • Moon Township, Pa.
TV: ESPN+
Twitter: @RMUWBasketball • Instagram: RMUWBasketball

Talent: Adam Gusky (pxp) and Justin Pyles (color)
Twitter: @RMUWBasketball • Instagram: RMUWBasketball

Opening Tip

- Robert Morris returns to the UPMC Events Center for a pair of home games on Friday against Oakland and Sunday against Detroit Mercy.

- The Colonials have already faced both the Grizzlies and the Titans once already this season. The Colonials earned their first conference win of the season in their Horizon League opener against the Titans way back on November 18 before dropping a 65-60 showdown in Oakland two days later.

- RMU has never defeated Oakland before, currently sitting at 0-3 against the Grizz all-time. Thursday also marks Oakland's first ever trip to Moon Township after the Colonials played each of their first three games against the Grizz on the road.

- RMU saw four separate players reach double-digit scoring during last Thursday's game against Youngstown State.  Freshman Simone Morris bested her previous high of 11 points, also against the Penguins, ending the day as one of four Colonials to score exactly 12 points. Senior Natalie Villaflor also enjoyed a new scoring high in the effort.

- Morris and Villaflor were joined by Esther Castedo and Ashya Klopfenstein with 12 points against YSU, the first time this season the Colonials have seen four players score in double-digits.

- Fifth-year guard Nina Augustin moved into the Top-Ten on the All-Time RMU assists leaderboard against IUPUI, surpassing Janee Brown '17 with her 278th helper. Now at 282 for her career, Augustin is three away from passing Ashley Revelli '16 for ninth-most and needs 18 more to become the eighth player in program history to eclipse 300 assists.

- Freshman Janeira Scott became the final member of the RMU freshman class to make her season debut earlier this season against Morehead State. Simone Morris currently leads all RMU rookies in scoring, averaging 5.1 points per game.

- RMU returns three starters and five letter winners from 2020-21.

- Returning as starters for the Colonials are fifth-year guard Nina Augustin, senior guard Esther Castedo and sophomore forward Sol Castro. The trio combined for 438 points and 177 rebounds during the abbreviated 2020-21 season.

- In a vote of Horizon League head coaches, RMU was picked to finish ninth in the league in 2021-22. Sophomore forward Sol Castro earned a spot on the 2021 Preseason All-Horizon League Second Team.

- Castedo again reached double-digit points in both games agains the Penguins. She has now reached double-digit scoring a team-best nine times this season.

- Through 14 games, Castro leads RMU in scoring average (9.4) and total rebounds with 85. Castro paced the Colonials in both categories during her rookie year in 2021, averaging  9.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest, both of which led RMU. For her efforts she was named to the 2021 Horizon League All-Freshman Team.

- Senior guard Esther Castedo is averaging 7.5 points per-game and has been the team's most effective three-point shooter at 23-64 (35.9%) from beyond the arc. She averaged 9.2 points per game during the 2020-21 campaign while also pulling down an average of 3.2 rebounds per contest. She has appeared in 88 career games, including 30 starts, 13 of which came last season.

- Junior center Ashya Klopfenstein is currently slightly ahead of Castro for the team lead in rebounding average at 5.5 per-game. She spent the 2020-21 season at Dawson Community College where she averaged 16.2 points and 10.5 rebounds per game while shooting 55.8 percent from the floor.

- The RMU freshman class features student-athletes from four different countries. Guard Rebecca Dwomoh is from London, England, while forward Phoenix Gedeon hails from Montreal, Quebec. Guard Alejandra Mastral is a native of Zaragoza, Spain, while the four rookies that are from the United States are from four different states, including California, Delaware, Ohio and Tennessee.

- The embark on a four-game road trip starting next week when they head to Milwaukee for a showdown with the Panthers on February 3.

GAMEDAY LINKS

- Live Stats

- RMU Athletics Gameday App

The All-Time Series (Oakland) – The Colonials squared off against Oakland once already this season, dropping a 65-60 contest in Rochester back on November 20 in a game that saw Castro, Augustin and Klopfenstein all score in double-figures for the first time.  Since then, the Grizz have gone 6-3 in Horizon League play and recently knocked off Detroit Mercy twice in three days in a home-and-home.  The Colonials are still searching for their first ever win as a program against Oakland after dropping the first three matchups.

The All-Time Series (Detroit Mercy) – The 2021-22 season has not been kind to the Titans, who at 0-18 on the year are still searching for their first win of the season. The Colonials kicked off Horizon League play there earlier this season, earning a 55-46 victory over the Titans back on November 18.  Esther Castedo poured in a season-best 23 points in the win.

Super Stoppers – Through 16 games, the Colonials have shown themselves to be one of the stingiest defensive teams in the Horizon League, holding opponents to an average of just 57.8 points per game, the fourth-lowest mark in the league behind Green Bay (56.6), IUPUI (56.6) and Youngstown State (55.4). The Colonials also boast the fifth-best opponent field-goal percentage (.395) and third-best three-point field-goal percentage defense (.281).

Helper Helper – Fifth-year guard Nina Augustin gives the Colonials a solid distributor heading into her final year with the program. Heading into Saturday, Augustin has dished out 282 career assists in 127 games, an average of 2.2 per contest. She recently broke into the top-ten all time in career assists and needs 18 to hit 300 for her career.

Free Is Me – In addition to her distribution skills, fifth-year guard Nina Augustin is nearly automatic when getting to the free-throw line. During her career, Augustin has converted 81.4 percent (158-for-194) of her attempts at the charity stripe, which ranks fourth in program history. The career school record is held by former guard Rebecca Navarro, who shot 84.8 percent (95-for-112) at the line from 2013 to 2017. Augustin, meanwhile, owns the RMU single-season record for free-throw percentage when she converted 89.4 percent (59-for-66) of her attempts during the 2019-20 campaign.

De La Sol – Despite a season both shortened and impacted by a global pandemic, forward Sol Castro shined in her first season with the Colonials in 2020-21, becoming the first freshman to lead RMU in scoring in almost 20 years. Castro averaged 9.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, both team highs, and also recorded three double-doubles. One of three Colonials to start all 17 games last season, Castro reached double figures in scoring nine times, including a career-high 23 points in a 50-43 victory over Wright State (1/16/21) at the UPMC Events Center. In that same contest against the Raiders, Castro grabbed 11 boards, marking her first career double-double.

Making The Grade – RMU posted a 3.824 term grade point average (GPA) during the 2020-21 academic year and finished with the No. 3 ranking in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Division I Team Honor Roll. It marked the third consecutive year the Colonials finished third as well as the fifth straight year RMU finished in the top four. The Colonials are the only NCAA Division I school to rank in the top four in five consecutive years. Of RMU's three returning starters, guard Nina Augustin owns a 3.95 cumulative GPA as a finance major, guard Esther Castedo studies management and has maintained a 3.83 cumulative GPA and in her first academic year forward Sol Castro posted a 3.83 GPA while owning sport management as a major.

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