The seats of the Charles L. Sewall Center were filled to the brim with elementary school children of all ages as the Robert Morris women’s basketball team opened its season with a 69-52 victory against Point Park University. An opponent that should have given the Colonials an easy win to start the new reign of head coach Charlie Buscaglia almost became a nightmare.

The score at halftime sat at a shocking 27-27 as the Colonials were missing wide-open shots and letting the Pioneers make easy work of their defense, getting easy shot opportunities from all over the court. It seemed as though RMU had no answer for a team who is not even in the NCAA.

Robert Morris may have won the game, but it lost the battle at the free throw line and from beyond the arc, as the team was limited to a 56.3 percentage on free throws and allowed the Pioneers to shoot 50 percent from the outside.

This early season and early morning match up has traditionally been a game in which every Robert Morris player gets some action as it beats up a much smaller and far less talented team. Last year, the Colonials crushed West Virginia Wesleyan 124-59, but this year’s game clearly was a much different story.

Even though the Colonials did not play their leading scorer in senior guard Anna Niki Stamolamprou, it was clear that there is still work that needs to be done if Robert Morris plans to defend its conference title.

The few bright spots in this game came from the 19-point, seven assist performance from Janee Brown, who was 3-of-5 from three point range and 8-of-10 at the free throw line. Alongside her, junior forward Megan Smith finished the day with a double-double, shooting 8-of-13 from the field with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

The Colonials will need to use this game to fix the issues which plagued the first three quarters of their performance today and come back against a much tougher Monmouth team on Nov. 13. Tip-off from the Sewall Center is set for 1 p.m.