MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – RMU women's basketball won their second straight game as they defeated Mercyhurst in non-conference action, 69-49. The Colonials now improve to 4-6 overall while maintaining a 1-1 mark in Horizon League play.

FIRST QUARTER

• The Colonials didn't get out to the start they hoped for with the Lakers jumping out to an early 15-4 lead.
• Mercyhurst went on a 10-1 run that spanned over four minutes long in the first quarter while holding RMU to 35 percent shooting from the floor.
• RMU finished the quarter trailing 19-13 with Jada Lee and Simone Morris each leading the Colonials with four points.

SECOND QUARTER

• Both teams exchanged points to open the frame but the Lakers managed to push their lead to nine points at the 7:09 mark of the quarter.
• RMU would respond in a big way by going on a 7-0 run of their own led by Lee who scored five points in a 30 second span.
• The Colonials ended the half in their favor with Jennica Suggs forcing a steal and breakaway layup in the final seconds. RMU trailed Mercyhurst 31-26 going into the break.

THIRD QUARTER

• RMU flipped a switch coming out of the locker room by playing a lot more aggressive on the offensive side and attacking the rim. The Colonials finished the frame going 9-9 from the charity stripe.
• The Colonials broke the tie at the 4:18 mark courtesy of two made Raissa Nsabua free throws and didn't look back as the home squad finished the quarter on a 15-3 run.
• RMU forced Mercyhurst into early foul trouble with the Lakers converting their fifth foul with five minutes left in the quarter. RMU flipped the script and went into the fourth quarter with an 11-point lead.

FOURTH QUARTER

• The Colonials didn't let their foot off the gas as they shot one of their best percentages in a quarter this season at 66 percent.
• RMU's defense continued to be stout with the Lakers not even making one trip the free-throw line in the frame.
• Even though the Colonials didn't make much from beyond the arc they made their fair share of three's in this quarter. Alejandra Mastral nailed one triple with Micah O'Dell cashing in two shots from three-point land.
• RMU would hold their biggest lead of the game at 21 points in this quarter and would end up defeating Mercyhurst, 69-49.

WELCOME BACK
The Colonials welcomed back to the floor their leading scorer from last season, Simone Morris. Morris made her return to the court coming off the bench where she had eight points and made her first two shots of the game. Morris missed the first nine games of this season but will look to play a prominent role to finish out her senior season.

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Chandler McCabe spoke after the game and had this to say about her team's performance, "I'm proud of the way that we responded at halftime. They did a really good job. But if you look at the second, third and fourth quarters, we gave up 12, eight and 10 points. That's what our identity is, and that's what we're trying to do moving forward." Chandler added comments about what adjustments the Colonials made coming out of halftime, "The adjustment was to just play harder. You know, for us, we have some big wings, some big guards, and they weren't scoring in the first half, so we kind of put a little pressure on them to score a little bit more, and they responded really, really, well."

Senior guard Simone Morris spoke after the game about what it meant to come back and contribute to the team. Morris stated, "Feels pretty good to be back, of course. It's been a long road coming here. I mean, it's not like I've been practicing for about what, like a week or so now. And I feel like I got it back in practice, of course, and then just putting it all together in the game." Morris also stated what her mindset was scoring almost immediately after checking into the game, "Yeah, so for the game, like, days leading up, I just kept telling myself, talking to my parents, of course, and they kept telling me, like, do what you can. Just do your job. Coach McCabe says that all the time, do your job. And I just said, go out there, don't try and do too much. Just be me. That's how I saw it, and I just went out there, and it was all in sync."

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
The Colonials were led on offense by Jada Lee who had 13 points while adding a team-high three steals. Raissa Nsabua had a nice performance as well with 12 points as she was 6-6 from the free-throw line and had a team-high five rebounds. The rotation for RMU worked today as the bench had 30 points combined compared to Mercyhurst who had six bench points.
 
UP NEXT
The Colonials will come back home and get ready for conference play next Wednesday night against Oakland. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPN+.
 
Follow The Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | RMU Athletics Gameday App