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Red Flash battle to the end in loss

LORETTO — Saint Francis started its game Monday night against Robert Morris by scoring the first seven points of the game, then only managed seven total points in the second quarter before trimming a 17-point third quarter deficit all the way down to six in the fourth.

No matter the time of game, SFU fought tooth-and-nail the entire way with the top team in the Northeast Conference before losing, 66-57, at DeGol Arena.

“The challenge for today was to show that this was our home court, and you don’t just come in our house and say you’re going to beat down on us and win a basketball game,” SFU coach Keila Whittington said. “We fought, and I wanted to see that we could fight to the end, and I thought that’s what we did.”

The loss dropped Saint Francis to 11-15 overall and 9-6 in the conference. Robert Morris improved to 19-6 and a perfect 14-0 in the NEC.

After the seven unanswered SFU points to open the game, the Colonials came out of a timeout and scored 13 of the next 16 points to take a three-point lead after the first.

The Red Flash couldn’t solve the defense of RMU as they were often forced to throw up a shot with the shot clock winding down.

The bigger problem was that SFU failed to take care of the ball in the second. They turned it over 10 times, after seven miscues in the first, which allowed the Colonials to get some easy looks.

“It was a good moment for us because we started off sluggish early on,” RMU coach Charlie Buscaglia said. “They were outworking us early in the game, and we had to respond from a tough moment like that to get down 7-0. Then to take each possession as its own possession, and really dig in there and change the culture of the game. We did that and that was one of the positives of the game.”

Trailing 28-17 at the half, Robert Morris scored the first six points of the third to claim a 17-point edge (34-17). However, the Red Flash got back to within 10 (47-37) after three quarters of play.

SFU’s Jenna Mastellone buried a 3-pointer to open the final stanza, but RMU’s Nneka Ezeigbo, who finished with a game-high 16 points, had an answer when the Red Flash scored in the early stages.

Karson Swogger, who tallied 10 of her team-high 13 points in the fourth, hit back-to-back 3-pointers, including an Ezeigbo layup sandwiched in between, with the last one closing the deficit to 53-46 with 4:54 left to play.

Saint Francis won the rebounding battle by a 43-32 margin as Haley Thomas pulled down a game-high 13. The Flash got as close as six points at 58-52 when Swogger connected on a pair of free throws.

Robert Morris left the door open as Esther Castedo and Isabella Posset, who tallied 13 points, made just 1-of-2 from the foul line. Posset’s free throw had the Colonials up 64-54 with 28.8 to go.

On the ensuing trip down the floor, Benzel was fouled on a 3-pointer attempt, and the redshirt sophomore converted all three to cut the margin back to seven with 22.1 showing.

After Natalie Villaflor missed on a pair of foul shots, Mastellone grabbed the rebound, but Swogger’s trey attempt following a timeout missed as Ezeigbo, who grabbed the rebound, knocked down the pair at the line to set the final.

“I think we learned that we’re tough, and we don’t give up,” Swogger said. “We came out with a 7-0 run and that gave us a lot of energy. But then, the second quarter, things didn’t go as planned. We didn’t stop fighting and we caught up towards the end. I feel like we didn’t give up at all .. We showed a lot of heart.”

ROBERT MORRIS (19-6, 14-0): Forbes 0-0 0-0 0, Ezeigbo 6-9 4-6 16, Forgues 1-8 0-0 2, Posset 5-10 3-4 13, Ikematsu 4-7 0-0 9, Augustin 0-5 6-7 6, Ozzy-Momodu 4-8 3-5 11, Castedo 0-8 3-4 3, Villaflor 2-7 0-2 6, Callahan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 22-63 19-28 66.

SAINT FRANCIS (11-15, 9-6): Dettwiller 2-2 0-0 4, Thomas 3-8 0-0 6, Allen 4-7 1-1 9, Swogger 3-9 4-4 13, Sabino 1-3 0-0 2, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Dapaa 1-4 2-2 4, Mastellone 2-5 3-4 8, Benzel 1-5 5-5 8, Pollard 1-1 1-2 3. Totals: 18-45 16-18 57.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Robert Morris 13 15 19 19 — 66

Saint Francis 10 7 20 20 — 57

3-point field goals: RMU 3-12 (Villaflor 2-4, Ikematsu 1-3, Forgues 0-1, Posset 0-1, Castedo 0-1); SFU 5-17 (Swogger 3-6, Mastellone 1-3, Benzel 1-3, Sabino 0-2, Thomas 0-3). Rebounds: RMU 32 (Ozzy-Momodu 11); SFU (Thomas 13). Assists: RMU 4 (Four tied with 1); SFU 7 (Allen 4).

A: 712.

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