GAME 28
RMU (13-14) vs Purdue Fort Wayne (9-20)
Tuesday, March 1, 2022 • 7:00 p.m. 
UPMC Events Center • Moon Township, Pa.
Twitter: @RMUWBasketball • Instagram: RMUWBasketball
Talent: Adam Gusky (pxp), Justin Pyles (color)

Opening Tip
- RMU hosts Purdue Fort Wayne in the first ever Horizon League Tournament game at UPMC Events Center. 

- The Colonials are 2-0 against the Mastodons already this season, earning a 52-48 victory at home on New Year's Day as well as a 60-48 win in Fort Wayne two weeks ago. The most recent victory over Purdue Fort Wayne began a three-game win streak for the Colonials.

- RMU is 0-1 lifetime in the Horizon League tournament, falling 68-54 in the first round at Northern Kentucky last season.

- The Colonials are 7-6 at home this season.
 
- The Mastodons are one of three HL foes RMU has swept this season, the others being Detroit Mercy and Cleveland State. 

- The highest remaining seed left after the first round of playoffs will determine RMU's second-round matchup. 

- 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 #133 in her Colonials career. The all-time games played leader now sits at 137.

- Augustin continues to climb the RMU assist leaderboard after the weekend. Now at 314 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.

- 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 4.2 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, ten straight heading into this weekend. She is averaging 4.1 PPG in that span. 

- RMU returns three starters from their first Horizon League tournament game a year ago in Esther Castedo, Sol Castro and Augustin. Natalie Villaflor and Mackenzie Amalia also saw action in postseason play a year ago.

- 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.

- Picked to finish ninth overall in the Preseason Coaches' Poll, RMU wraps up the 2021-22 regular season campaign in eighth place with an 11-11 overall mark in Horizon League play. 

-  While Tuesday will be the first Horizon League postseason matchup played in Moon Township, the Colonials have enjoyed a historic advantage playing at home in the post-season, owning a 25-2 home record lifetime in the playoffs.  

- Through 27 games, Sol Castro leads RMU in blocks with 15 on the season, trailed closely by Klopfenstein with 12. The sophomore also leads the team in offensive boards with 43. 

- Senior guard Esther Castedo is averaging 10.8 points per-game and has been one of the team's most effective three-point shooter at 32-96 (33.3%) 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 104 career games, including 47 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 5.3 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.

GAMEDAY LINKS
RMU Athletics Gameday App

The All-Time Series (Purdue Fort Wayne) – The Colonials are 2-0 against the Mastodons this season, and are looking to beat Purdue Fort Wayne for the fourth consecutive time. RMU is 3-0 against the Mastodons since losing their first ever matchup with them last February, with two of those three wins coming by double-digit points. PFW is riding a three-game losing streak heading into Tuesday following losses to Oakland, Green Bay and Milwaukee. 

Conference Honors – Senior guard Esther Castedo was honored by the Horizon League for her performance during the 2021-22 campaign with All-League third team honors on Monday. The Lugo, Spain native paces the Colonials in a number of offensive categories, including field goals attempts (9.5) and field-goals made per-game (3.9), free throws (1.9) and steals (1.8) and is the only Colonial shooting over 41% from the field and 33% from beyond the arc.

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 314 career assists in 137 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 81.9 percent (167-for-204) 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.