Fort Wayne, Ind. – Playing its second consecutive road game, the Robert Morris women's basketball team captured a 71-63 victory at Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday afternoon in Horizon League action.

With the win, the Colonials snap a five-game losing streak and improve to 9-14 overall behind a 3-11 record in conference play. Meanwhile, the Mastodons slip to 10-14 this season with a 7-7 mark in league action.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Robert Morris opened the contest by hitting four of their first five shots to score the opening 10 points of the game. Sophomore guard Simone Morris led the charge with five points while classmates Alejandra Mastral and Phoenix Gedeon combined for five points. Purdue Fort Wayne would trim the deficit with a 6-2 run to cut it to 12-6 while forcing three turnovers during the spurt. The Colonials would respond by scoring seven of the next points to hold a 19-9 lead after one. The Mastodons opened the second quarter with five straight points before Gedeon scored six consecutive points for RMU, 25-18. After Morris connected on a pair of free-throws, the two squads would trade the next eight points. The Colonials would stay hot as they extended their lead going into the locker room, 36-24.

In the second half, it was a back-and-forth affair to begin the third quarter before the two teams combined for four turnovers and 0-for-3 from the field in a span of a minute and a half. A Gedeon jumper at the 2:33 mark would end the drought before sophomores Danielle Vuletich and Rebecca Dwomoh stretched the Colonial lead with a triple and a jumper, 51-38. Dwomoh and Gedeon sparked a 7-2 run to begin the fourth quarter which gave RMU its biggest lead of the afternoon, 59-40. Purdue Fort Wayne countered by scoring seven straight points, while forcing two turnovers during the run. After a Vuletich layup at the 3:22 mark, the Mastodons trimmed the deficit to single digits with a 10-4 run with 50 seconds remaining, 65-57.

ICE IN THE VEINS
With 39 seconds remaining, RMU held a 65-57 lead before Gedeon connected on a pair of freebies at the charity stripe to stretch the lead back to double digits. Ryin Ott connected on a three-pointer for Purdue Fort Wayne to trim the lead, 67-60. Riley Ott would connect on one-of-two from the line before collecting a steal and a Shayla Sellers layup trimmed the lead to 69-63. Dwomoh stepped to the charity stripe and sealed the victory for RMU with a pair of free-throws in the closing seconds. The Colonials went 6-for-8 from the line in the final 40 seconds as Dwomoh and Gedeon went a perfect 6-of-6 during that stretch.

QUOTABLE
"It was such a big moment to stay tough minded with having no subs for the last two and a half minutes as two players had fouled out," head coach Charlie Buscaglia said. "Even though we turned the ball over down the stretch a bit too much, the hustle to keep after every loose ball and not put our head down, had everything to do with giving ourselves the next opportunity to fix our mistakes. We always tell each other get the next possession, and bled that culture today. In all, we put a brick on our foundation, and we are very proud with earning this win."

DEFENSIVELY ON ONE
Robert Morris gave Purdue Fort Wayne problems all afternoon as they held the Mastodons to just 29.1 percent (16-of-55) from the floor and 5-of-25 (20.0percent) from behind the arc. The Colonials forced PFW into 23 turnovers and collected 16 steals during the win. It's the seventh time this season RMU has forced a team into 20 or more turnovers. The 16 steals are the second most this season and the seventh time in double-digits.

QUOTABLE
"I'm very proud of our student-athletes for overcoming all the challenges this game presented," Buscaglia continued. "I've continued to repeat on a daily basis to stay in faith with who we are and what we do in order to be successful. During this tough stretch of recent games, we continued to come to work and continued to believe in working on our craft and just get a little better every day."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Three Colonials finished in double-figures, led by Gedeon who recorded her 10^th double-double of the season. She carded a career-high 23 points and 11 rebounds while shooting 8-of-15 from the floor and a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe. Dwomoh finished with 14 points, six boards, and a career-high six steals against the Mastodons. Morris is the third Colonial in double digits with 13 points and five caroms, while shooting 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. Vuletich chipped in seven points and three steals off the bench, while Mastral grabbed a career-high seven rebounds and junior Mackenzie Amalia collected three steals.

QUOTABLE
"We all were aware PFW came in on a four-game winning streak, and watched them knock off 1st place YSU on Thursday night. Coach Marchesano does a great job, and her team never quits. We had to work very hard to guard PFW's offense the entire game. They threw a lot of different lineups and actions at us, and we continued to work hard the entire game to not allow them to beat us with the same way twice. When you only have 7 players dressed, our culture of a no excuse attitude was everything for us to finish this game. We attacked and executed versus their man and their zone. We had to set a great defensive tone to the game from the tip, and we definitely did. We added a couple wrinkles to attack them today, and our team truly did a great job of executing with limited practice, and soaking up our video sessions."

UP NEXT
RMU begins a four-game homestand as they host Detroit Mercy on Thursday, Feb. 9 for a Horizon League match with tip-off set for 7:00 p.m.

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