The Robert Morris Women's basketball team opened their 2012-2013 season last night (November 9, 2012) against the Niagara Purple Eagles at the Sewall Center in Moon Township. The neck-to-neck game was entertaining to watch but with only .4 seconds left on the clock in the second half, the Colonials lost the tough game. Randi Jackson, freshman, shot the last basket of the game but she unfortunately missed her three-pointer. At the end of the night, the score was Robert Morris 59 and Niagara 63.
The RMU team brought in three new players this year to their ten-person team. Freshman guard, Randi Jackson from Oakland, California stepped out onto the court as a Colonial after the second media timeout in the first half. She showed off her skills but had one rebound. Another freshman from Toulouse, France, Lou Mataly, had an excellent game when she posted 11 total points on the game. As for Ashley Ravelli, also a freshman out of Princeton, New Jersey, was part of the starting line-up for the first time as a Robert Morris Colonial. Ravelli had two total rebounds but did not have any points. Even though she did not have any points, Ashley Ravelli showed the crowd that she has potential to improve on the season this year.
During the first half of the game, the Colonials and the Eagles both had a lot of steals and made the game even tougher for Bobby Mo to get the lead. Robert Morris kept throwing the ball out of bounds but they improved throughout the game. Both teams were either down or ahead less than six points in the first and second half of the game.
Artemis Spanou, junior forward from Rhodes, Greece had an outstanding game when she had the team-high throughout the entire game. Spanou reached her career-high of 32 points and 16 rebounds late in the second half. Also, she almost reached a double-double early in the second half. At the end of the game, Spanou had a team-high of 30 points, 14 rebounds and four assists on the night. Lou Mataly, fell behind Spanou in most total points. Mataly had three rebounds and was 4-9 on shooting.
The Robert Morris Colonials had a shooting percentage of 40.4% (21-52) and had a percentage of 26.7% (4-15) from the long range. The Niagara Purple Eagles had a shooting range percentage of 36.8% (21-57) and had a percentage of 21.4% (3-14) from the long range too. Also, RMU had seven fast breaks and Niagara had nine on the game.
The Bobby Mo team will be on the road for their next four games when they will play against Colgate, Miami (Ohio), Iowa, and Michigan State. The team will not be home again until November 28, 2012 when they will play Stony Brook at 7:00 p.m. at the Sewall Center.