Robert Morris had just one game this past week, a Senior Day matchup with Wright State. It was a rough start for them, allowing a 12-0 run by the Raiders to fall 21-9 after the first quarter. However, the defense, which has been struggling a bit, came through for the Colonials, allowing just 12 points to Wright State over the next 20 minutes and eventually taking the lead into the fourth quarter.
The offense for both teams heated up in the final quarter, but it was Robert Morris who got timely buckets in the final minute to hold on for the 62-50 win to finish 11-9 in league play. Myriam Traore (19 points) and Aislin Malcolm (14 points), who each earned 3rd Team All-League honors on Monday, were the leading scorers for the Colonials.
Unfortunately for them, it didn’t matter when it came to the standings. That’s because Purdue Fort Wayne, which needed to lose to give Robert Morris the 5-seed, found a way to beat first-place Green Bay, 71-66, at home on Senior Day to clinch the last home game in the conference tournament.
But while the Colonials will have to go on the road to start out the Horizon League Tournament, the bigger development is that the Phoenix, who had started the season 15-0, could’ve easily lost five of its last seven games, needing last-second shots to get past RMU and Youngstown State before the recent losing skid. So the tournament could end up being harder-fought overall than expected in the next week.
Preview of matchup at Purdue Fort Wayne
Prior results vs the Mastodons
- 74-64 win at home
- 60-46 loss on the road
In the upset win over Green Bay last week, Fort Wayne forced 23 turnovers. It’s one of the biggest strengths of the team, averaging nearly 17 takeaways a game in league play. They’re also the top-scoring team in the conference (72.2 ppg) and rank first in shots made inside the arc at 52%. Robert Morris will need all-defensive team forward Eva Levingston to have a big impact inside, along with a scoring boost, coming off back-to-back 21-point games in the week prior.
Malcolm is another x-factor to watch, as she went for a game-high 20 points in Robert Morris’ win over the Mastodons, but had just two points on 1/8 shooting in the defeat. Of all the first-round matchups, this is easily the closest thing to a toss-up. We’ll see if the Colonials, who went 5-5 away from home in league play, can get one more to end the season.
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