Despite losing four of the last six games heading into last week, Robert Morris still had a chance at getting a home game in the first set of Horizon League Tournament games. They took on two bottom-half teams in the league, starting with Detroit Mercy.
Similar to their first matchup with the Titans, the Colonials had little trouble. Up 33-22 at the half on the road, Robert Morris was up by 16 points after three quarters, before coasting to a 66-55 victory. The team was led by a pair of career-high efforts, with Myriam Traore leading all scorers with 22 points, while Eva Levingston produced 21 points and 10 rebounds.
The next game was in Oakland, an opportunity for RMU to avenge an earlier 61-58 home loss after blowing a late lead. It was another good start for the team, up 30-22 midway through and led by double-digits, early in the third quarter. Unfortunately, the defense, which ranks in the top-3 in most categories in the Horizon League, collapsed.
The Colonials would allow 49 points in the final 20 minutes, lose the lead, and go down double-digits en route to a 71-61 loss. Mackenzie Luehring, the 5-6 freshman guard who leads Oakland on the season and had 17 points in the first game, dropped 31 points to continue her fantastic run of late.
Levingston tied her career-high with another 21 points, with Aislin Malcolm chipping in with 12. After getting swept by the Golden Grizzlies, Robert Morris is now 17-11 on the season, including 10-9 in Horizon League play. That’s good for 6th place, and if the season ends, they would have to go on the road in the second round of the conference tournament next week.
If there’s some good news for Robert Morris, it’s that all is not lost in terms of getting to the 5th and final top-half seed. Purdue Fort Wayne, which the Colonials split with in the regular season, lost both games last week and fell to 10-8 in league play. Here’s the upcoming schedule for both teams this week.
Robert Morris: Home vs Wright State (6-12)
Purdue Fort Wayne: At Milwaukee (4-12), Home vs Green Bay (16-2)
If the Mastodons win both games, they not only will guarantee themselves a home game but could move up a seedline or two, depending on what other teams currently above them do. But if RMU beats Wright State on Saturday and Fort Wayne loses one of these games, the Colonials could have the tiebreaker because they split with second-place Youngstown State, which swept Fort Wayne this year. For that to happen, though, RMU needs Green Bay to beat them instead of Milwaukee, as the Mastodons would end up having the tiebreak due to beating the top team, which had swept RMU.
To make it simple, RMU fans need to root for Green Bay to take care of business on Saturday while handling their own business. As we’ve seen on both the men’s and women’s side, anyone can compete with anyone in this league. The Colonials just have to find some momentum before the postseason starts a week from now.
Enjoyed this article? Help keep HoriZone Roundtable going.
👉 Donate here: https://horizoneroundtable.com/donate
👉 Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/horizoneroundtable
Subscribe to our emails, and get our latest posts in your inbox, plus a weekly digest of everything we've published!
