SEASON OPENER
ROBERT MORRIS COLONIALS (13-18) vs. KENT STATE(19-10)
Friday, November 13 - 7:00 p.m.
Charles L. Sewall Center (3,056) - Moon Township, Pa.
Internet: www.rmucolonials.com (live & archived)
Matt Kirk, play-by-play & Jim Elias, color analyst

Top Story
The Robert Morris Colonials (13-18) open their 2009 season at home for the first time since 2006 when they host Kent State (19-10) in a 7:00 p.m. game Friday, November 13 at the Charles L. Sewall Center. The Colonials return five players from last season and bring in seven players who will wear a RMU jersey for the first time this season. The Golden Flashes bring back three starters and seven letterwinners from a squad that posted 19 wins last season.

Musket Shots
 RMU has not opened the season at home since 2006
 Robert Morris is 3-3 in season openers and 3-1 in home openers under Sal Buscaglia
 RMU is 12-21 all-time in season openers, 7-6 in home season openers
 The Colonials feature five international players and seven newcomers this season
 RMU was picked fourth in the NEC Preseason Coaches Poll, receiving one first-place vote
 Three RMU players - Mary Durojaye (England), Vega Gimeno-Martinez (Spain) and Anna Gailite (Latvia) - played for their respective national teams last summer.

All-Time Series vs. Kent State
Despite campuses separated by just over 90 miles, the Colonials and Golden Flashes have played each other just four times, three of those meetings coming in the last three seasons. Each squad has claimed victory twice with home court playing a key role in the small sample size. RMU is 1-0 at home and 0-2 on the road. Kent State won last year's game, 76-60, in Kent, Ohio.

RMU in Season Openers
Robert Morris is 12-21 all-time in season openers. With game locations unknown for six seasons, the Colonials have played 13 of those 34 season openers on home court, posting a 7-6 record in those games. RMU is 3-3 in season openers and 3-1 in home season openers under head coach Sal Buscaglia.

Climbing to 600
Head coach Sal Buscaglia needs just 10 more wins to reach 600 for his career. Now in his 32nd season, he has racked up a 590-270 record on the junior college and NCAA Division I level. The Buffalo-native earned his 100th career win as RMU head coach last season, his sixth at the helm of the Colonials program.

NEC Preseason Predictions
Robert Morris was selected fourth in the 2009-10 Northeast Conference Women's Basketball Preseason Coaches Poll released on Thursday. The Colonials went 13-18 last season, earning a berth in the NEC Tournament for the fifth straight year, and received one first place vote in the poll. Defending champion Sacred Heart is the league-favorite, garnering nine first-place votes. Saint Francis (Pa.) picked up two first-place votes and second in the poll followed by Central Connecticut State. Quinnipiac is fifth behind Robert Morris followed by Fairleigh Dickinson, Monmouth, Mount St. Mary's, Long Island, Bryant, Wagner and St. Francis (N.Y.).

International Relations
The 2009-10 version of the Robert Morris women's basketball team has a roster that features players from five different countries, including the United States. Five players hail from overseas, four from European countries and one across the Gulf of Mexico. Seven players call the US their home. Anna Gailite and Kristine Silaraja are both from Latvia. Vega Gimeno-Martinez grew up on the Meditteranean coast of Spain and Mary Durojaye was born and raised in London, England. Freshman Yohanna Morton comes from the Dominican Republic, home of one the best players in RMU history - Sugeiry Monsac.

Measuring Up
This season's team is the tallest the Colonials have had in team history, averaging over 5'11" a player. Five players top the 6'0" plateau highlighted by 6'6" freshman Anna Gailite, the tallest player in the history of the RMU women's basketball program. Two players are listed at 5'8" - guards Destiny Harrison and Yohanna Morton.

JuCo Junction
Four Colonials players arrived at the Moon Township campus after having played two seasons on the junior college level. Redshirt-senior Angela Pace helped Monroe College to a NJCAA Division III National Championship in 2006. Senior Monica Jones played her junior college ball at Howard College where she was an all-region selection. Juniors Kristine Silaraja and Yohanna Morton are both in their first seasons at RMU after playing on the NJCAA Division I level the last two years. Silaraja was an all-region pick last season at Barton County Community College while Morton earned all-America honors the last two years at Arizona Western Junior College.

Dominican Again
Junior guard Yohanna Morton hails from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the same country as former Colonial great Sugeiry Monsac. The similarities do not end there. Both Morton and Monsac ended up at Robert Morris after playing two seasons at Arizona Western Junior College where they were both NJCAA Division I All-Americans. If Morton's Colonial career follows the same path as Monsac's, RMU fans are in for a treat the next two seasons. Monsac was the 2004-05 NEC Player of the Year, a two-time All-NEC selection while averaging 17.6 points and 10.3 rebounds in 67 career games.

Buckeye Ballers
Three Robert Morris players call Ohio - the Buckeye State - their home. Junior Bianca Hooten, a transfer from Bowling Green, grew up in Canton where she was a three-time MVP and the number-two shooting guard in the state in 2006-07. Freshmen Libby Ladrach and Jasmine Tate also call Ohio home. Ladrach hails from Orrville, earning all-state honors while averaging 17.7 points and 10.5 boards a game last season. Tate played at Harvest Prep in her hometown of Columbus. The freshman was named the #33 guard in the nation by ESPNU Insider and was an honorable mention all-state pick.

National Attention
Robert Morris can boast about having three players - Mary Durojaye, Vega Gimeno-Martinez and Anna Gailite - who have suited up for their respective national teams. Durojaye, a sophomore, has played for the English National Team since 2007, earning spots on both the Under-18 and Under-20 squads. Freshmen Gimeno-Martinez has been part of one of the world's top international teams, helping Spain to a second-place finish at the most recent FIBA Under-19 World Championships. The squad's sixth-man, she helped the Spanish side hand the US its first lost in eight years last summer. Gailite has been a member of the Latvian team since 2005, helping her squad to a third-place showing at the 2009 European Women's Basketball Championships. It was Latvia's best-ever finish.

Hooten and Hollerin'
Junior guard Bianca Hooten will finally be able to play with the Colonials after practicing with the team for the last year after transferring from Bowling Green following her freshman campaign in 2006-07. Hooten played in 19 games as a freshman for the Falcons, averaging 2.4 points per game and 0.7 rebounds per contest. Hooten was a four-year letterwinner and three-time MVP at Canton-McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio. She was named the No.2 shooting guard and a Top-25 player in the state in addition to being named one of the Top 265 seniors in the nation. Hooten set school records for blocks and three-pointers at Canton-McKinley.

Home for the First Half
Robert Morris has a schedule loaded with home games in the first half of the season, a significant change from the team's recent history. The Colonials open with three consecutive homes and play four of their first five games at the Sewall Center. In all, nine of the team's first 13 games through January 3 will be played in Moon Township. Last season, RMU had just four home contests and seven road games in its first 11. In 2007-08, the squad played nine on the road and just two at home in its first 11 contests.

Sewall Center Turns 25
Robert Morris begins its 25th season of play at the Charles L. Sewall Center. The Sewall Center opened in time for the 1985-86 seasons and has truly been a welcoming place for both the Colonials men's and women's team's. The squads have combined to win 58.1 percent of their games at home, with the women posting a 157-143 (.523) record there. The women's program is 59-11 (.843) there since the 2004-05 season.

Talkin' About the Road
In a switch from recent seasons, the Colonials are scheduled to play fewer games on the road, 13, than at home, 16, this season. Robert Morris struggled to the tune of a 3-14 record away from the Sewall Center last center. Prior to the that, RMU set records winning 10 road contests in both 2006-07 and 2007-08, going a combined 20-11 in hostile territory those two seasons.

The Old
Robert Morris returns five players from last season's 13-18 squad with two seniors, two juniors and one sophomore. Seniors Angela Pace and Monica Jones played in just eight and 13 games, respectively, before being forced out for the season. Destiny Harrison and Tiffany McMillion, who both came as freshman in 2007-08, round out the junior class while Mary Durojaye is the lone sophomore returning to the squad.

The New
Head coach Sal Buscaglia and his staff will have seven new players to familiarize themselves with this season. Four freshman - Anna Gailite, Vega Gimeno-Martinez, Libby Ladrach and Jasmine Tate - joined the squad this fall. Juniors Yohanna Morton and Kristine Silaraja are both junior college transfers while junior Bianca Hooten regains eligibility after sitting out the 2008-09 season following her transfer from Bowling Green.

Sal-vation
In a span of just four years, Sal Buscaglia turned the Robert Morris University women's basketball team into a perennial conference power and national contender. When Buscaglia arrived at RMU, the Colonials had only won seven games the previous three seasons. After suffering through his worst season record-wise as a head coach in 2003-04, Buscaglia turned the RMU program into a 20-win squad, winning back-to-back NEC titles in 2006-07 and 2007-08. His four 20-win seasons are more than the team had in its history prior to his arrival. He and his palyers have accounted for three major NEC awards and 12 spots on the all-conference and all-rookie teams.