GAME 29
#8 RMU (14-14) at #1 IUPUI (21-6)
Thursday, March 3, 2022 • 7:00 p.m. 
The Jungle • Indianapolis, Indiana
Twitter: @RMUWBasketball • Instagram: RMUWBasketball

Opening Tip

- RMU takes on top-seeded IUPUI Thursday night in the 2022 Horizon League Quarterfinal this Thursday at 7:00 p.m.

- RMU is coming off of their first ever Horizon League Tournament win in program history Tuesday night against Purdue Fort Wayne, 70-56.

- The Colonials improved to 1-1 overall in the Horizon League tournament with the win and 1-0 at home in the HL post-season.

- Robert Morris earned a double-digit win over PFW Tuesday thanks in part to one of the best shooting performances of the season in the first half, going 55.6% (5-9) from three and 47.1% from the field through the first 20 minutes of action.

- IUPUI swept the regular-season series with RMU including the regular season finale last weekend that saw the Colonials fall 73-40.

- Robert Morris improved to 26-2 lifetime at home in post-season play. The victory also marked the first postseason win at the UPMC Events Center since the Colonials knocked off Wagner 65-61 in overtime of their 2020 NEC quarterfinal.

- Head Coach Charlie Buscaglia made his return to the Colonials bench Tuesday against PFW, earning his 100th career win as RMU secured its first ever HL postseason victory. The win also moves Coach B to 9-2 all-time in conference tournament games since taking over the helm of the Colonials.

- The Colonials set a new season high in assists Tuesday night, dishing out 18 helpers on 28 made field goals, nearly 65% of their total field goals for the night. Esther Castedo led the way with a new career-best nine while Mackenzie Amalia dished three.

- RMU's aggressive defense paid dividends against the Mastodons as RMU recorded a season-high six blocks Tuesday. A pair each from Castro as well as Simone Morris helped RMU keep Fort Wayne to just 31% from the field.

- Four players reached double-figures in scoring Tuesday for RMU, led by Castro with 16. Amalia went 4-5 from three for a season-high 15 points while Castedo (14) and Morris (11) also turned in solid nights offensively.

- 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 138.

- Augustin continues to climb the RMU assist leaderboard following RMU's triumph over PFW. Now at 315 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 4.4 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 afterwards, including her first ever post-season start Tuesday. She is averaging 3.9 PPG in that span. 

- Mastral, Morris, and Phoenix Gedeon all made their post-season debuts for RMU against PFW Tuesday; Castro, Castedo and Augustin have now started both of RMU's HL tournament games.

- 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 advances to the quarterfinals as the #8 seed in the tournament.

-  RMU is 0-1 on 4th road in the Horizon League tournament after dropping a 68-54 decision at Northern Kentucky last season.  

- Through 27 games, Sol Castro leads RMU in blocks with 17 on the season, trailed closely by Klopfenstein with 12. The sophomore also leads the team in offensive boards with 46. 

- Senior guard Esther Castedo is averaging 10.9 points per-game and has been one of the team's most effective three-point shooters at 34-101 (33.7%) 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 105 career games, including 48 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 (IUPUI) – The Colonials will face a stiff challenge taking on top-ranked IUPUI Tuesday at the Jungle. Led by graduate and reigning four-time Horizon League Player of the Year Macee Williams, the Jags enter the post-season as regular season champs with a 21-6 overall mark, including a 18-4 clip in HL play.  Winners of 16 of their last 17 games, IUPUI swept RMU in both matchups this season including last weekend's regular season finale that saw them down RMU 73-40.  The Colonials are 0-4 lifetime against the Jags.

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 315 career assists in 138 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 81.7 percent (168-for-206) 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.