MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The RMU women's basketball team came back home and defeated IU Indy, 61-58. The Colonials improved to 11-14 on the season and have now moved to 7-9 in Horizon League play.
 

FIRST QUARTER

• RMU was attacking the interior defense of IU Indy early in the game and jumped out to a 9-4 lead thanks to Mya Murray, Noa Givon, and Naomi Barnwell all contributing in the paint.
• IU Indy responded midway through the frame by hitting three triples in a row to give the Jaguars a 13-11 lead.
• The Colonials bounced back and scored six more points to end the quarter with a two-point deficit. RMU would finish with 14 points in the paint compared to IU Indy with six.

SECOND QUARTER

• Colonials guard got off to a blazing fast start to the frame with back to back three pointers to give RMU the lead back.
• RMU fed off of second chance opportunities in the quarter as the Colonials had six offensive rebounds compared to the Jaguars with just one.
• The Colonials held strong to end the frame and would go to the break with a 34-30 advantage.

THIRD QUARTER

• RMU once again got off to a good scoring start as Danielle Vuletich made her return to the court and converted on back to back jumpers to give the Colonials their largest lead of the game.
• IU Indy would flip the script in the paint with the Jaguars outrebounding the Colonials 12-7 in this frame.
• The Colonials ended the stanza on the right foot as Givon converted on a slick driving layup in the final seconds. RMU would head to the final quarter trailing by a score of 48-47.

 FOURTH QUARTER

• The Colonials played their most sound quarter of the game converting on over 50 percent of their shots and holding the Jaguars to just over 12 percent shooting from the floor.
• Senior guard Isys Grady was a force for RMU in the stanza as she had six of her eight points in the frame along with going 4-4 from the free throw line.
• RMU was looking to close out the game with a two-point lead and 14 seconds to go when Jada Lee converted on a circus off balance shot to put the game on ice.
• The Colonials made their final free throw shots and would come away with a huge 61-58 conference win.

 
WELCOME BACK
Senior forward Danielle Vuletich returned to the court for RMU after being sidelined with a knee injury for the past eight weeks. Vuletich made her presence felt right away as she scored on her first attempt from the floor and finished the game with eight points and four rebounds in 14 minutes of action. Vuletich spoke after the game about what it meant to back on the floor, "Honestly, I'm just very thankful that I have the opportunity to come out and play these last couple games with them. And getting injured right before New Year's was kind of hard, because I didn't know what was going to happen. But with hard work, and like coach said, never losing who I am, always being a leader, on the bench, on the floor whenever I can, I'm just happy I can play with my girls again."
 
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Chandler McCabe opened her postgame statement by describing how this game felt like a boxing match, "Really proud of how this team fought today. IU Indy is a really good team, and, you know, we kind of always talk about how, within the flow of the game, it's almost like a boxing match. You get punched, you got to punch back. You get punched. Everybody was punching each other this game, and, you know, we ended up ultimately with the final punch. And this was a huge win for us. It was a collective team win. Every single person that played contributed in a really good way, and we're really happy to have Dani back." Chandler then spoke about how their next contest on Sunday against Northern Kentucky is setting up to be the biggest game of the season, "That's what we say every single game. But this one maybe means a little more even, even though it's just the next game. You know, we're half a game behind them. They've already beat us. We need to tie it up one to one. We also need to go up a half a game on them. It's huge. I mean, the implications for the playoffs are huge. But we don't look ahead. We just look to our next opponent. My staff is going to do an incredible job of preparing us, and I know they'll be ready too"


INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Noa Givon led the Colonials with 14 points as she has now posted 15 double digit scoring games this season which is the most on the team. Mya Murray posted her second double-double of the season as she had 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Naomi Barnwell, Danielle Vuletich, and Isys Grady all finished the game with eight points,

UP NEXT
The Colonials will stay home and face Northern Kentucky this Sunday afternoon at the UPMC Events Center. Tipoff is at 2 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPN+.
 
Follow The Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn | RMU Athletics Gameday App