MOON TOWNSHIP– The Robert Morris women’s basketball team (0-6, 0-6 Horizon) was looking to rebound and finally get in the win column in the Saturday matinee when they squared off against IUPUI (8-1, 6-0). But, unfortunately for the Colonials, they were outmatched once again and fell by the final score of 74-53.
After the game, head coach Charlie Buscaglia spoke about IUPUI’s strong performance.
“Congratulations to IUPUI. [They are] a very strong program, we had to play very hard to hang in there with them,” Buscaglia said.
Early on in the contest, the Colonials struggled from the field as they were shooting at a 28% clip with Sol Castro registering the team’s only points through the first five minutes of the game. The team was down 9-4 by the first media timeout.
IUPUI stretched their lead up to 10 points by the end of the first quarter. The Jags shot 42% from the field and an impressive 50% from beyond the arc.
As for Robert Morris, even though they struggled early on in the game, they got into a rhythm on the offensive side of the ball shooting 46% from the field and 66% from beyond the arc.
As for the second quarter, RMU struggled from the field in the opening minutes as they shot just 1-6 in the first five minutes of the frame. This opened the door for IUPUI as they doubled their ten-point lead and the score stood at 37-17 with around three minutes to go in the half.
By the end of the half, the Jaguars led 46-24 the team shot 46% from the field and 43% from beyond the arc. IUPUI also shot 11-15, good for 73% from the charity stripe. Macee Williams and Sydney Roule led the way for the Jags in points both with 12. Williams also led the team in rebounds with eight in the first half.
For the Colonials, points were more spread out across the board as eight different players logged points in the first half. The colonials shot 37% from the field in the first half as well as 57% from downtown.
The Colonials came out of the half firing on all cylinders as they scored the first six points to start the third quarter.
Robert Morris kept up the intensity and cut the Jaguars’ lead to 12 points in the final minutes of the third quarter.
IUPUI mounted a run of their own to end the third quarter to increase their lead back up to 19 points.
Overall in the quarter, the Colonials outscored the Jaguars 14-11 by shooting the ball at a 40% clip compared to IUPUI’s 30% mark from the field. Robert Morris was limited turnovers as they only had two in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, things did not get much better for the Colonials as IUPUI was lights-out shooting. They made their first five field goals in the first four minutes of the quarter. The Jaguars lead was stretched 70-44 with around four minutes to go in the game.
However, Robert Morris ended the game on a 9-2 run, which is a good ending for them even though they came out on the losing end of things this afternoon.
For IUPUI, they shot 42% from three-point land and 45% from the field. They also cleaned up on the glass nicely as they outrebounded RMU by 14.
Macee Williams put up an impressive stat line for the Jags as she put up 26 points and 14 rebounds this afternoon. Williams has now moved into second place all-time in scoring and rebounding in IUPUI women’s basketball history.
Overall for the Colonials, they shot 38% from the field and from beyond the arc. Sol Castro led the team in points with 14 on the day which is a career-high for the freshman. Robert Morris has now dropped their first six matchups of the year.
Buscaglia spoke about Castro’s strong performance and contribution to the team.
“We were really excited for her coming into the program, obviously transitioning in [from Argentina] she has done pretty well,” Buscaglia said. “She wants to work hard every day and become better every day. She is taking on a strong role as a freshman and today. She put a brick on her foundation and also put a brick on the team’s foundation.”
The Colonials return to action on Friday, January 8th against UIC at the UPMC Events Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 PM.
