Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU women's basketball team remains undefeated at home, beating the Canisius Golden Griffins by a score of 62-52. The Colonials now own a 5-1 record overall in non-conference play, to begin the 2022-23 season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Canisius scored the first basketball of the game, making two free throws. RMU ran it back scoring 11 unanswered. Sophomore
Alejandra Mastral got the Colonials going scoring a layup off a turnover. Keeping up their defense, junior
Mackenzie Amalia forced a turnover and scored a fast break layup to make it 4-2. After the media timeout, freshman Rabadan Solis drained a three, and
Paris Kirk scored two points on the next drive. Sophomore
Danielle Vuletich finished off the scoring streak grabbing a rebound and tossing in a layup. Up by a score of 11-8, RMU would score the last five points of the quarter as Vuletich made two free throws and Solis swished another three. "We've got a young team and so we need to grow up fast," said head coach
Charlie Buscaglia. "We're competing against different programs that play different styles and that's part of the experience that we take away from a game like today."
Starting off the second quarter ahead 16-11, the Colonials contained the momentum and went on a nine-point run. Sophomore
Simone Morris scored a jump shot, and then sophomore
Phoenix Gedeon made four three throws in a row as she was fouled twice in the paint. Two times later in the offensive zone, Vuletich was fouled and made one foul shot.
Rebecca Dwomoh finished off the scoring run with a layup off a turnover. With three minutes remaining in the half, RMU contained a 26-22 lead. As they started the quarter with a nine-point run, they ended the quarter with nine straight points as well. Vuletich stayed on fire, scoring six consecutive points. She made two layups and two free throws to give her team a 10-point advantage. "What helped me is our guards feeding me the ball and trusting me that I could make a move inside," said Vuletich. In exciting fashion, with .3 seconds left Amalia dribbled down the court and threw up a shot from the logo and scored a buzzer beater, taking the team to the locker room up 35-22. "We work on those last second shots, half court shots and long threes" said Buscaglia. "There's four quarters now, so you're facing more buzzers and more situations where you're trying to beat the clock. Amalia did a great job of executing it."
In the third quarter, four minutes in, RMU jumped ahead 40-27. The next three minutes offered no scoring until the Golden Griffins made two foul shots. Amalia scored behind the arc in the corner, off a nice pass from freshmen
Louella Allana to make it 43-36 after 30 minutes of play. Gedeon led the Colonials this quarter in points with four, and led all players on the court in rebounds with seven.
Canisius didn't go down without a fight as they clawed their way back within one, 45-44. "Canisius plays with a lot of fire" Buscaglia stated. The Colonials stayed calm and collected, putting in the next 11 points to erase the Golden Griffins chance of a comeback. Morris, Mastral and Amalia all scored baskets back-to-back-to-back. Next drive in the offensive zone, Morris was fouled and placed her free shots in the hoop. RMU caused commotion for Canisius as they forced a shot clock violation. Then up the court, Vuletich produced another layup and was fouled, finishing off the and-one. Dwomoh was the next to be fouled and swished one from the line. Ahead 57-46, RMU was back in control, but Canisius came back with six straight points. Still ahead by five, the Colonials wouldn't give up another point for the rest of the day. Canisius needed to foul, and therefore three separate players went to the line. Making 5-6 from the line, RMU won 62-52 to win five straight games at home.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Leading the team today in scoring was
Danielle Vuletich, producing 14 points. Amalia and Gedeon also scored in double digits with 11 and ten, respectfully. Amalia also led the team in steals with six, and assists (3). Morris was close to a double-double earning 11 caroms and nine points. She's scored nine in two consecutive games. Gedeon was close to the double-double as well with nine rebounds along with her 10 points. RMU had their best day from the free throw line as they went 22-for-29 (75.9%). The Colonials saw 36:14 minutes in the lead. They shared 13 assists and stole the ball 10 times off 17 turnovers by the Golden Griffins.
ACROSS THE HORIZON
After six games, RMU is still the best team defensively during their non-conference schedule. Ranked first, allowing only 49.2 points per game. The Colonials have four players in the top 10 in steals. Ranked third is Amalia, averaging 2.2. She's also third in the conference in assists per game (3.5). Gedeon remains seventh in scoring, putting up 13.5 points a night on average. Still first, opponents are only shooting (.161) from trey against the Colonials. RMU came into this match ranked second across the NCAA in this statistic.
QUOTABLES
On being a sophomore: "I had all year last season to develop. A lot of the girls pushed me to be my best. I got in the gym and worked on what I needed to. We always tell each other to go out at practice and make ourselves better. What's uncomfortable in practice needs to be comfortable in the game." – Sophomore Forward
Danielle Vuletich
On conference games starting soon: "We're getting better at playing aggressive and it'll help us with conference play. Wright State and Northern Kentucky will do a lot of the same things as Canisius did, so it helped us be prepared for what is next to come." – Sophomore Forward
Danielle Vuletich
On Thanksgiving break: "With how the games were timed we needed to recover after Akron. We rested, got treatment in the training room, and we had a beautiful Thanksgiving meal together as a team, but I told them we need to be hungry when we practice. It's great when we have that balance of fun, but we turn it on when we go to practice." – Head Coach
Charlie Buscaglia
On the team's defense: "I'm not the type of coach that plays a soft brand of basketball. We care about our defense. Our defense has been nationally ranked over the years. The girls will be growing up fast this week and have a great week of practice." – Head Coach
Charlie Buscaglia
On conference games starting soon: "We have to be ready to go out on the road. We need to learn from our loss in Akron. We know each other more. Conference games means everything is on the line. It affects our seeding and where we sit in the standings. I'm big on how we handle adversity. We need to handle those moments in conference play, especially on the road." – Head Coach
Charlie Buscaglia
NEXT UP
After playing six non-conference games, the Horizon League play picks up next week. RMU heads out on the road to face two conference opponents. They'll take on Wright State (12/2) at 6:00 p.m., and then Northern Kentucky (12/4) at 2:00 p.m. This is the beginning of a four-game away trip.
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