MOON TOWNSHIP– Robert Morris women’s basketball (3-5, 1-1) returned home looking for a Sunday afternoon win over Youngstown State (2-6, 0-2). The Penguins had won six straight against RMU coming into today, but the Colonials would break that streak, winning 65-63.

Simone Morris picked up right where she left off after a 16-point performance at Cleveland State. She had the first seven points for RMU and finished with 12.

Most of RMU’s first-half offense came from Naomi Barnwell, who scored 15 points in the first 20 minutes. She finished with a season-high 19 points and added 11 rebounds for a double-double.

Head coach Charlie Buscaglia was impressed with Barnwell’s game today and spoke highly about her postgame.

“Naomi has a lot of potential and a lot of talent,” Buscaglia said. “She wants to do well and enjoys playing the game, which is huge. That late-game layup was an amazing moment for her, and we just have to ensure she’s okay.”

The Colonials led by as much as nine in the first half, but only led by four at halftime.

The third quarter was a defensive slugfest, with RMU unable to pull away. A three-pointer by Danielle Vuletich extended the lead to nine with three minutes left in the quarter.

Buscaglia lauded his team’s ability to not crumble under the defensive pressure YSU applied to them late in the game.

“We made some plays down the stretch that were very strong, high-level plays,” Buscaglia said. “When we drew up those late actions, we executed it with a great pace and they were fearless in that moment.”

A key piece of the win was stat sheet stuffer Louella Allana, who finished with seven points, five rebounds, nine assists, and three steals.

Buscaglia praised Allana’s resilience and ability to stay energetic and keep fighting despite her late foul trouble.

“Lou has a great motor and a great point guard mentality of being very energetic and loud,” Buscaglia said. “She hit that late big three in the corner and executed it. These are the kinds of things that we struggled to do earlier in the season, trying to find the team’s chemistry. It was great to see us execute like that down the stretch.

Despite losing their lead and seeing YSU up by four early in the fourth quarter, the Colonials continued to fight and scratched and clawed their way to the win.

“This game, if I were to recap it, is a moment of us getting over the hump and learning from the tough losses that we’ve had,” Buscaglia said. “We did a great job on that scramble on the missed free throw to not even allow them to get a shot off. We were ready to cut off what they were trying to do.”

It was a great weekend for Charlie Buscaglia who, before watching his team pull off a gutsy win, first saw his father, Sal, inducted into the RMU Athletic Hall of Fame Saturday afternoon.

“I couldn’t be any happier to see him be acknowledged and recognized for that,” Charlie Buscaglia said. “I personally was alongside him for a lot of years and I saw why he was so successful, how hard he worked, and how much he wanted to make sure he sacrificed his time. It’s very difficult to live the life of a professional coach. For those long years that he did that, I can’t speak enough about how much it meant to see him get recognized.”

Despite the pomp and circumstance of this weekend, Buscaglia remained busy with his family and preparing for the game.

“It was a very busy weekend with family things to do and the hall of fame ceremony,” Buscaglia said. “When you get a win like this, and you see your team take the next step, boy is it all worth it.”

The Colonials’ next game is in College Station, Texas, where they will take on the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday, Dec 9, at 1 P.M.