Moon Township, Pa. – RMU beats IUPUI, 69-63 in their first home game of the new year. The Colonials are now 8-9 (.471) overall, and 2-6 (.250) in Horizon League play.
 
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Looking for their first win in program history against the IUPUI Jaguars, RMU got off to a slow start. IUPUI scored the first three baskets taking a 7-0 lead. Head coach Charlie Buscaglia stated "I always tell the team, before we take this journey, can we handle adversity together? Are you somebody that when the tough times hit, are you still going to have faith and continue to work hard?" The Colonials did just that after giving up the first seven points.
 
The theme of all game for the Colonials was successful shooting from behind the arc, and that is how they got their scoring going, with a trey made by sophomore Rebecca Dwomoh. The Colonials continued to climb their way back and press IUPUI on their heels. After some back and forth action for the final seven minutes in the opening frame, freshman point guard Louella Allana made a brilliant pass finding Daniel Vuletich wide open in the paint to score at the buzzer, making it an 18-18 tie headed into the second quarter. For the third time this season, Robert Morris has scored a buzzer beater.
 
In the second quarter, the Colonials defense played strong as they only gave up seven points. An array of players got on the board as Danielle Vuletich, Natalie Johnson, Fatim Sarr Ndow, Mackenzie Amalia and Phoenix Gedeon all scored baskets. Heading into the locker room for halftime RMU held a 31-25 lead and would never fall behind for the rest of the game.
 
IUPUI looked to get back on track but was stymied by the Colonials work ethic in the offensive zone to start the second half. RMU earned three consecutive offensive boards and Gedeon finally scored a second chance layup. Kate Bruce and her coaching staff immediately called a 30 second timeout. Coming out of the timeout, the Jaguars scored a basket but going the other way Rebecca Dwomoh hit another clutch three. In the final four minutes of the period, the Colonials got to the paint and earned some shots from the charity stripe. Having a good day at the line, Phoenix Gedeon swished two free throw shots, followed by a three-point play by sophomore Danielle Vuletich on the next drive. Continuing to have the momentum, Vuletich was fouled again and scored two more free throw shots to secure a 48-41 lead after 30 minutes of play.
 
In the final frame, IUPUI clawed their way back making it a one-point game, with the score at 53-52. With confidence, the Colonials kept shooting from distance as Dwomoh and Allana scored back-to-back trey's and led 59-52 at the Q4 media. Right out of the media timeout, freshman point guard Louella Allan scored another important three-pointer to gather an eight-point advantage. Success at the free-throw line benefited RMU tremendously as Dwomoh made two free throw shots and Amalia made 3-out-of-4 from the foul line in the final 20 seconds to win, 69-63. "It feels great to see them get the reward and stay with our game plan," said Buscaglia.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
This was RMU's best performance from the foul line when shooting more than six free throws. The Colonials made 15-out-of-17 (.882). "We worked on a lot of things in practice, especially free throws," Buscaglia said. "You don't usually take free throws while rested in the game, so we worked on knocking those shots down while being tired." RMU's biggest lead was 11, happening in the third quarter. They held the advantage for about 29 minutes of the game, compared to the Jaguars eight minutes. Rebounding well, the Colonials avoided giving up any second chance points to the Jaguars and scored seven themselves. The bench players came prepared as they outscored IUPUI's bench 24-7.
 
Leading the team in points tonight was sophomores Phoenix Gedeon and Rebecca Dwomoh, both producing 17 points. Dwomoh's five three-pointers were vital in the team's win. "Personally, I've been in a slump shooting wise, so it feels good to get back into a rhythm and see the hard work pay off," said Dwomoh. Junior point guard Mackenzie Amalia paced for 11 points and a team leading five assists. Vuletich also scored 11 and added five boards. Stepping up to the plate as well was freshman Louella Allana who made three treys.
 
ANOTHER ONE
Phoenix Gedeon has been a double-double machine all season. The Canadian forward has now posted her seventh of the season, and fifth in the past seven games. Her production in today's game was the exact same as it was at YSU (1/12), scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Gedeon has scored in double figures in all but two games this season.
 
DEEP THREAT
RMU had their second-best performance in Horizon League action this year from behind the arc, as they shot 10-for-23 (.435). IUPUI came in as the best three-point scoring team in the conference, but that was no issue for the home side as RMU has been leading in three-point defense all season, and has been ranked nationally in the top 10 in Division 1 all year in that category. The Jaguars only made five from behind the arc shooting 19.2%.
 
Dwomoh led the way with five shots from behind the arc, Louella Allana had three and Mackenzie Amalia scored two. "Dwomoh was great today on being locked and loaded to shoot and Allana's nine points were instrumental down the stretch," said Buscaglia. "How you score is very important."  
 
MILESTONE ACHIEVED

• Mackenzie Amalia officially reached over 100 career field goals and has scored over 300 points in a Colonial uniform.
• Scoring over 100 points on the season after today's game is Rebecca Dwomoh.

QUOTABLES
"I was listening to a podcast that talked about buffalo being a unique animal. I'm from Buffalo so right away it intrigued me. The podcast talked about how buffalo run into the storm, and not run away from it. And today, we knew the storm was coming, and we ran right into it." - Head Coach Charlie Buscaglia 
 
UP NEXT
The Colonials get about a week off as they head back out on the road to Wisconsin for the next two games. They'll face Milwaukee on Friday, Jan. 20 at 1:00 p.m., and then play Green Bay on Sunday, Jan. 22 at 2:00 p.m.
 
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