MORGANTOWN, W.Va– After splitting two Horizon League road games against Wright State and Northern Kentucky, the Robert Morris (6-3, 1-1 HORIZON) returned to their non-conference slate against the West Virginia Mountaineers, falling 72-42 Thursday evening.

The Mountaineers dominated early, outscoring the Colonials 21-5 in the first quarter, including seven forced turnovers and seven offensive rebounds in the first quarter alone. The Colonials could only hit one field throughout the first half, a Rebecca Dwomoh three-pointer with 7:21 remaining.

“We were a little tight early on.” head coach Charlie Buscaglia said. “The pace offensively, we had to do a better job. It brought a lot of intensity on the defensive side of the ball and took us out of our stuff. We have to respond better than that, early in the game. We try to prepare for that before the game but obviously we werent ready for it tonight.”

One of the things that the Colonials struggled with was the offensive rebounding. West Virginia pulled down as many as 13 offensive rebounds in the first half.

“I would say that they have more size. They’re in the Big 12.” Buscaglia said. “You’re going to see high-level rebounding an high-level crashing. We also have to be better than that. When you play against a team like [West Virginia], you can see that they will give you no margin for error.”

Jayla Hemmingway had a double-double for the Mountaineers with 14 points and 11 rebounds as Kyah Watson led the game with 16 points. Phoenix Gedoen was the only double-digit scorer for the Colonials with 11.

The Mountaineers outrebounded the Colonials 50-31, as WVU had 19 offensive rebounds.

Sophomore Alejandra Mastral went down with an ankle injury and never returned. Coach Buscaglia said the reports are very positive and will be reevaluated tomorrow.

As the game progressed, things became more steady as the Colonials had a 7-0 run in the second quarter to cut the deficit to as many as nine and outscored the Mountaineers 16-11 in the second quarter.

Coming into Thursday, the Colonials were tops in the country in three-point defense. That trend did not change as the Mountaineers shot 30 percent from beyond the arc.

“We work on our defense everyday. We work hard to make sure that if a shot is taken from the outside, were always working to contest it. We work on that everyday in practice. Today, it was a little on the higher end for us but again we’ll just keep guarding the outside real well.”

Again, RMU hung around and still trailed by just nine midway through the third. However, WVU poured it on, ending the quarter on a 14-0 run, with JJ Quinerly scoring nine of those points by herself. The Colonials were outscored 36-17 in the second half.

“When you go into halftime, you never want the break to get the best of you.” Buscaglia said. “We lost a lot of momentum that we had going into the locker room. Early on, we had some pace issues. We got a little stagnant to begin the half. Offensively we got into a little bit of a rut, similar to the first half. Of course, sooner or later West virginia is going to hit some shots. They are a tough team and again, they will give you no margin for error.”

The Colonials will travel to another Big 12 arena and will face no. 23 Oklahoma in Norman Sunday at 2 p.m.