YOUNGSTOWN, Oh. - The Robert Morris women's basketball team saw its two-game win streak snapped Saturday afternoon when it dropped a 59-53 loss to the Youngstown State Penguins at the Beeghly Center. The loss moves the Colonials to 6-7 on the year and 4-4 in Horizon League play.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Trailing by eight midway through the second quarter, RMU called a timeout and immediately went to work,  ratting off an 8-0 run to erase a 17-7 Penguins lead and knot things up with under three minutes before the half.  A jumper by Esther Castedo cut it to six before some excellent work from Natalie Villaflor at both ends of the court saw her grab a defensive rebound before knocking down a three moments later to make it a one-possession game. Another three from Castedo brought RMU even entering the final stretch of the opening half. Villaflor's three was part of eight contributed by the Colonials bench in them first 20 minutes of action.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

A number of Colonials enjoyed career performances in RMU's back-and-forth show down with the Penguins, none more so than junior center Ashya Klopfenstein.  The Howe, Indiana native grabbed a career-high ten rebounds to lead all players on both teams while pouring in 12 points for her first ever double-double with the Colonials.  Simone Morris also enjoyed a benchmark performance, breaking double-digits for the first time with 11 points, while Sol Castro (11 points) finished two boards shy of a double-double herself. It marks the third time this season RMU has seen three players reach double digit points.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

RMU was hot on the Penguins' heels for the entire second half, cutting their lead down to as little as two points when a Morris free-throw made it 40-38 with under eight minutes in regulation, however a late surge for the Penguins helped create some valuable breathing room as YSU held on for the win.  Points on consecutive possessions for YSU's Chelsea Olson expanded their lead to seven before back-to-back layups from Lilli Ritz pushed it to as much as 11 before they managed to hold off the Colonials comeback.  The Penguins took advantage of six RMU turnovers over the final 7:17 of action for the win and finished the day with 23 points off Colonials turnovers in total.

NEXT UP

The Colonials return to UPMC Events Center for a three-game home stand starting next Friday, January 14 when they host IUPUI at 7:00 p.m.