Moon Township, Pa. – Battling with the top team in the Horizon League, the Robert Morris women's basketball team fell to Cleveland State, 70-52 in conference action at the UPMC Events Center on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, the Colonials end 2022 with a 7-6 overall record and a 1-3 mark in league play. Meanwhile, the Vikings improve to 13-1 this season with a 4-0 mark in Horizon League action and sit at the top of the conference.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Robert Morris opened the contest by scoring the opening 12 points, led by sophomore guard Simone Morris who had five points in the run. Cleveland State responded with a 9-0 run of their own as they went a perfect three-for-three from the field and three-of-three from the free-throw line to trim the deficit, 12-9. Morris led a 7-2 run to end the quarter as the Colonials held a 19-11 advantage after one. The Vikings scored the first seven points of the second quarter to trail by one before freshman guard Natalie Johnson ended the drought with a layup. Cleveland State scored six straight points before both teams went over two minutes without a bucket. Robert Morris scored five of the next nine points, led by freshman guard Louella Allana and sophomore center Danielle Vuletich before trailing at the half, 28-26.

After a bucket by sophomore forward Phoenix Gedeon, the Vikings put together a 7-2 burst to extend its lead, 35-30. Later in the quarter, Cleveland State stretched its lead as it scored 11 consecutive points, holding RMU to 0-of-10 from the field over a five-minute span. Morris connected on two free-throws to end the quarter as the Vikings led 48-34. The Colonials opened the fourth by scoring seven of the first 10 points before Cleveland State maintained its lead with a 6-2 run, 57-43. Later in the quarter, both squads traded the next 12 points before the Vikings drilled six-of-seven free-throws from the charity stripe.

DÉJÀ VU
For the second consecutive game, Simone Morris paced the Colonials in scoring, finishing with a career-high 15 points and collected nine rebounds. She corralled five boards on the offensive glass, while going five-of-eight from the charity stripe. Morris has led RMU is scoring three times this season and has collected nine or more boards twice.

QUOTABLE
"Before the game in our preparation, the high post flash was really stressed to us so I was just making sure I was working on that shot," Morris said. "I was doing everything I needed to do to make sure that it becomes a high percentage shot for these games coming up."

DIFFERENCE IS IN THE DETAILS
It was a physical and competitive game inside the paint as Cleveland State took advantage on driving to the basket and getting to the free-throw line. The Vikings went 31-of-42 (76.47 percent) from the charity stripe, converting eight-of-nine to end the game. Destiney Leo, the top free-throw shooter in the conference, went a perfect 13-for-13 from the line.  

QUOTABLE
"They do a great job of playing their style of basketball and they play very hard," RMU head coach Charlie Buscaglia said. "They challenge you physically, physically to slide your feet and to box out. I thought we competed well for most of the game but they got to the line way too much today and that's because they go really hard to the basket."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
For the 12^th time this season, Phoenix Gedeon has finished in double-figures, registering 14 points and eight rebounds. She collected four boards on the offensive and has tallied eight or more rebounds seven times this season. Vuletich recorded six points, three assists and a season high eight caroms, six of them coming on the offensive glass. Junior Mackenzie Amalia paced RMU with four assists.

QUOTABLE
"We did have a better pace today and obviously we're playing a tough team and we came out ready, but we still need to continue to find our pace and to get better in certain areas," Buscaglia said. "The next game we play is all I'm concerned about. We can overcome this if we stay in the moment and that's what we have to do, stay in the moment now and not think about the stretch coming up."

UP NEXT
The Colonials begin the new year with a three-game road slate, traveling to Detroit, Michigan to face Oakland in a Horizon League contest on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 7:00 p.m. at the Athletics Center O'rena.

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