Moon Township, Pa. – The Colonials opened Horizon League play at Cleveland State as they fell, 72-59. With the loss, the RMU women's basketball team dropped to 2-5 overall while the Vikings improved to 6-1 the season.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Colonials started the contest trading buckets with the Vikings as it was
Naomi Barnwell and
Simone Morris who combined for 11 first quarter points to keep the Cleveland State defense at bay. RMU shot over 43 percent from the field in the first frame as they trailed the Vikings by just three points heading to the second quarter.
The momentum of the game started to shift in the second quarter as the Vikings went on a 13-0 run to begin the second frame. RMU was outscored 24-12 and shot their lowest percentage from the field in the second quarter as they were never able to retake the lead for the remainder of the game.
PROTECTING THE GLASS
RMU had one of their best rebounding performances of the season as they hauled in 42 boards compared to Cleveland State as they corralled 32 rebounds.
Danielle Vuletich led the Colonials with 11 boards while Barnwell and
Paris Kirk added seven rebounds. These rebounds also helped RMU get 13 second-chance points which was more than the Vikings who had five.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Simone Morris paced the Colonials with 16 points as she also had a season-high seven field goals made in the contest. Vuletich added nine points and was the Colonials most effective free throw shooter as she went 3-4 from the charity stripe.
Louella Allana had an all-around effective game as she finished with eight points, five rebounds, and a team-high four assists. Sophomore
Natalie Johnson led RMU with eight points off the bench as she helped the Colonials have 13 bench points compared to the Vikings who finished with five.
UP NEXT
The Colonials will host their first Horizon League game of the season as they'll battle Youngstown State at the UPMC Events Center on Sunday afternoon. Tipoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPN+.
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