LORETTO, Pa. – The RMU women's basketball team remained perfect, picking up its third win in a row with a 71-61 win over the Saint Francis Red Flash on Thursday night at the DelGo Arena with junior Eva Levingston scoring a career-high 18 points to lead the Colonials.
 
FIRST QUARTER

• RMU found themselves out ahead of the Red Flash by six to begin the first quarter with a 12-6 lead after Bailey Kuhns connected on a layup from Eva Levingston.
• Saint Francis took a one-point lead on a made layup by Makyiah Ward before the teams went back and forth until RMU found its groove.
• The Colonials went on a 10-0 run to close out the first quarter with a 24-15 lead with Myriam Traore closing out the quarter with a layup.
• RMU shot an impressive 63% from the floor in the first quarter, going 10-for-16 led by Myriam Traore with seven points. The Colonials held a slight 9-7 advantage on the glass with Aislin Malcolm, Levingston, and Traore pulling down two apiece.

SECOND QUARTER

• RMU extended its lead with 4:55 to go in the second quarter to 15 as the Colonials led the Red Flash 35-20 after another Kuhns layup.
• Following a three-pointer by the Red Flash, RMU answered right back with a 7-0 run to find themselves ahead by 18 on a layup by Layke Fields.
• The Colonials closed out the second half up 17 as Fields made another layup, assisted by Noa Givon, to put RMU up 43-26 going into the half.
• In the second quarter, the Colonials shot 43%, with 16 of their 19 points of the quarter coming down low. Defensively, RMU forced four Red Flash turnovers with Malcolm and Fields each picking up a steal.

THIRD QUARTER

• With just over five minutes to go in the third quarter, RMU held a double-digit lead over Saint Francis as a Red Flash three cut the lead to 49-39.
• A Traore three with 3:43 put the Colonials up 52-39 before the Red Flash quickly answered back with a layup. Jada Lee extended the lead back to 13 with a second-chance layup in the paint to put RMU up 54-41.
• Saint Francis hit a quick three with 1:39 left to go in the quarter to cut the Colonials' lead down to 10, with RMU going into the fourth quarter up 54-44.

FOURTH QUARTER

• A late 8-0 scoring run by the Red Flash with 5:08 left on the clock cut the Colonials' lead down to five with RMU out on top 60-55.
• The Colonials put up 11 more points on the board in the last five minutes to secure the victory, with Malcolm closing out the scoring with a perfect trip to the line to give RMU a 71-61 lead with just two seconds left on the clock.
• From the free-throw line, RMU was nearly perfect in the quarter, going 7-for-8 for 88% shooting from the charity stripe. Levingston was 4-for-4 from the line, while Malcolm was a perfect 2-for-2.

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Eva Levingston led the Colonials' offense with 18 points on the night to set a new career-high for the junior forward. Levingston was 6-for-11 from the floor, including a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line. Levingston had a near double-double, pulling down a team-leading eight rebounds, along with three assists.

Myriam Traore was second on the team with 15 points, along with five rebounds. Aislin Malcolm recorded 11 points while Bailey Kuhns finished with 10 to round up double-digit scorers.
 
On the glass, Layke Fields pulled down seven boards while Kuhns brought down six. Saint Francis had a slim 37-34 advantage in rebounding with Sonia Sato and Shelby Ricks pulling down six apiece.
 
UP NEXT
RMU (3-0) will have the weekend off before returning to the UPMC Events Center on Tuesday night to host Duquesne (4-0) with tipoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Fans will be able to stream the game live on ESPN+