GAME 24
RMU (11-12) vs. Wright State (3-19)
Friday, February 18, 2022 • 7:00 p.m.
UPMC Events Center • Moon Township, Pa.
TV: ESPN+/22 The Point/MeTV Ohio Valley
Twitter: @RMUWBasketball • Instagram: RMUWBasketball
Talent : Adam Gusky (pxp), Justin Pyles (color)
GAME 25
RMU (11-12) vs. Northern Kentucky (17-6)
Sunday, February 20, 2022 • 1:00 p.m.
UPMC Events Center • Moon Township, Pa.
TV: ESPN+
Twitter: @RMUWBasketball • Instagram: RMUWBasketball
Talent: Adam Gusky (pxp), Justin Pyles (color)
Opening Tip
- RMU wraps up its regular season home slate with showdowns against the Raiders and Norse this weekend.
- The Colonials are riding a two-game win streak following back-to-back road victories at Cleveland State and Purdue Fort Wayne last week.
- The Colonials will be playing NKU and WSU each for the first time this season following the cancellation of both of their previously scheduled matchups earlier this year. The NKU game was ruled a no-contest while RMU was awarded a 2-0 forfeit win against WSU.
- The Colonials are 6-5 at UPMC Events Center this year and have won three of their last four at home.
- Sunday will also be Senior Day for the Colonials, who will honor the careers of Nina Augustin, Esther Castedo, Natalie Villaflor and Sydney Palermo with a special pregame ceremony before tipoff against the Norse.
- Fifth-year guard Nina Augustin passed Mikalah Mulrain for first place on the program all-time games played list earlier this season at Green Bay, suiting up for game #131 in her Colonials career.
- Augustin continues to climb the RMU assist leaderboard after the weekend. Now at 304 for her career, she passed Angela Pace '10 for seventh-most all-time in helpers last weekend, and is now one of just eight players in program history to eclipse 300 career assists.
- RMU completed sweeps of both Cleveland State and Purdue Fort Wayne over the weekend, and have now swept three different Horizon League opponents this year with the addition of Detroit Mercy.
- The win over CSU by 14 points was the third largest margin of victory this season for RMU. Only Morehead State (23 points) and Detroit Mercy (16 points) were more lopsided.
- 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 4.4 points per game.
- Freshmen Alejandra Mastral earned her first career start of the season earlier this year against Oakland, and has since started every game since, six straight heading into this weekend.
- 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.
- Currently eighth overall in the Horizon League standings, the Colonials are two games up on ninth-place Purdue Fort Wayne with four games to go in the regular season. If things ended today, the Colonials would host the Mastodons in the first round of the HL Tournament in March at the UPMC Events Center.
- Through 22 games, Sol Castro leads RMU in blocks with 13 on the season, trailed closely by Klopfenstein with eleven. The sophomore also leads the Colonials in offensive boards with 37 and is second on rebounding average at 5.2 per game.
- Senior guard Esther Castedo is averaging 11.5 points per-game and has been the team's most effective three-point shooter at 29-84 (34.5%) 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 100 career games, including 44 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 5.4 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 Colonials close out the regal season on the road next week with trips to UIC and IUPUI on the schedule.
GAMEDAY LINKS
- Live Stats
- RMU Athletics Gameday App
The All-Time Series (Wright State) – The Colonials will take on the Raiders for the first time this season following the cancellation of their earlier matchup back in January that was ruled a forfeit for WSU. At just 2-15 in Horizon League play and 3-19 overall, WSU has struggled for wins this season, however the Raiders recently snapped a seven-game losing streak with a win over UIC last Saturday. Defense has proved the primary challenge for WSU this season, who are conceding a league-high 72.3 points per game. RMU has won three straight against Wright State counting the 2-0 forfeit back in January and is 4-3 against them all-time.
The All-Time Series (Northern Kentucky) – Sunday will be the first meeting of the year between RMU and NKU, with the Norse the winners fo their last three showdowns with RMU and five of the six matchups in the all-time series. Boasting one of the most potent offenses in the Horizon League, senior guard Lindsey Duvall is third in the conference in scoring average this season at 17.3 points per game.
Super Stoppers – Through 22 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 (56.3), IUPUI (56.5) and Youngstown State (56.8). The Colonials also boast one of the best three-point field-goal percentage defenses (.293).
Helper Helper – Fifth-year guard Nina Augustin gives the Colonials a solid distributor heading into her final year with the program. Heading into the weekend Augustin has dished out 304 career assists in 133 games, an average of 2.3 per contest. She recently became the eighth player in program histrionics to hit 300 career assists.
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 81.3 percent (161-for-198) 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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