Women's Basketball 12/5/2007 5:00:00 AM

RMU Caps Five-Game Road Trip At Miami (Ohio)

ROBERT MORRIS (2-4) at MIAMI (4-3)
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 - 7:00 p.m. Eastern
Millett Hall (6,400) ? Oxford, Ohio
Internet: www.sports.yahoo.com (live & archived) (Adam Gusky, play-by-play, & Matt Kirk, color)
Websites: www.rmucolonials.com ? www.muredhawks.com

Top Story
Robert Morris looks to end a two-game losing skid with the final contest of a five-game road trip when they travel to Miami (Ohio) for a 7:00 p.m. game on Wednesday, December 5. The Colonials have not lost three games in a row since the 2003-04 season, the first season under fifth-year head coach Sal Buscaglia. RMU has lost its last two games, both to Big 12 opponents ? Missouri (74-73, 11/25/07) and Nebraska (73-58, 12/2/07).

Quick Stat
The Colonials have not lost three straight games since the 2003-04 season, Sal Buscaglia's first at Robert Morris, when the team went 3-24. Since then, RMU has lost two games in row just three times with each coming during the non-conference portion of the schedule. Robert Morris won its first two games in 2005-06 and 2006-07 only to lose their next two games starting the seasons 2-2. The team is currently in a two-game skid following losses to Big 12 members Missouri and Nebraska.

All-Time Series vs. Miami
Robert Morris and Miami have met twice with each team earning a win putting the series at 1-1. Miami won the inaugural meeting in 1986. Robert Morris won last season, 90-89, with a last second shot in the season opener for the Colonials at the Charles L. Sewall Center.

Scouting the RedHawks
Miami snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 4-3 on the season with a 89-71 win over Cleveland State on Saturday afternoon. The RedHawks utilize the three-pointer, hitting nearly seven per game while shooting at a 35.9 percent clip. They are averaging 70.7 points per game while allowing 72.7. That margin comes largely due to a 98-50 loss at Notre Dame to open the season. Amanda Jackson leads the team and the Metro-Atlantic Conference in scoring at 22.4 points per contest while shooting 37.2 percent from three-point range. Jenna Schone is averaging 15.1 points per game. Laura Markwood leads the MAC with 10.4 rebounds a game.

Miami Head Coach Maria Fantanarosa
Maria Fantanarosa is in her 10th season as head coach of the Miami RedHawks, posting a 142-125 record through Saturday's win against Cleveland State. She has led Miami to six winning campains during the last eight seasons, claiming two Mid-American Conference East Division crowns as well as the 2003-04 MAC Championship. Prior to taking over the Miami program, Fantanarosa was the head coach at Western Carolina in 1997-98. She has been an assistant coach at Xavier and South Carolina before coaching at Western Carolina.

RMU Last Time Out
The Nebraska Cornhuskers went on a 18-2 run midway through the second half en route to a 73-58 win over the Robert Morris University women's basketball team Sunday evening. Junior guard Sade Logan led the Colonials with 19 points on 8-of-23 shooting. Senior forward Chinata Nesbit turned in her 17th double-double of her career, scoring 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. She also had three assists and three steals. Junior Angela Pace just missed out on her first double-digit scoring game with nine points. Nebraska held a 48-38 advantage in rebounds and scored 24 second chance points. Robert Morris shot 37.9 percent (25-66) and Nebraska shot 41.3 percent (26-63). The Huskers went to the line 27 times, hitting 20 while Robert Morris was just 5-11 from the charity stripe.

Leading Scorers: Sade Logan (19), Chinata Nesbit (17), Angela Pace (9)
Leading Rebounders: Chinata Nesbit (11), Angela Pace (6), Sade Logan (5)
Assists: Angela Pace (5), Chinata Nesbit (3), Kendra Williams (2)

500 Club
R-Senior guard Psyche Butler needs just nine more rebounds to become the 14th player in RMU women's basketball history to record 500 career rebounds. The guard is averaging 7.8 boards this season and had a career-best 18 rebounds against Duquesne (11/21/07). Butler's 274 rebounds during the 2005-06 season are the 10th most in a single season for a Robert Morris player.

Three for Me
Its no wonder why Sade Logan wears #3 on the back of her jersey. The 6-0 junior guard has attempted more three-pointers this season, 56, than the rest of the team combined, 26. Logan is averaging a team-best 25.5 points per game and has connected on 22-of-56 three-point attempts (39.3 percent). Logan is on pace to break every field goal season record. She is on pace for 677 attempts, 299 three-point attempts, 270 field goals and 96 three-point field goals. Logan has led the team in scoring every game this season, including two games over 30 points.

Losing Late Leads
The Colonials have held the lead in the second half of all but one game this season while sitting at 2-4 overall. Most recently, Robert Morris was up by as many as four points in the second half against Missouri and held a one-point lead with 15 seconds left when the Tigers hit the game-winning shot with two seconds left in regulation. In their loss to Duquesne, the Colonials led by 10 points with 7:40 left before the Dukes tied the game on a three-pointer with 4.7 seconds left in regulation. At Florida in the season opener, RMU held a two-point margin with 15:24 left in the game before the Gators reassumed control and won by four points.

Last Second Losses
Two of the Colonials three losses have come at the hands of last second shots. Missouri's Alyssa Hollins hit a 15-foot jumper with two seconds left to give the Tigers a 74-73 win over Robert Morris at the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Classic. In that game Sade Logan hit a jumper with 15 seconds left that gave RMU a one-point lead. Duquesne forced overtime and eventually beat the Colonials on a Kristi Little three-pointer with 4.7 seconds left in regulation. Duquesne won that game, 68-63.

Kendra Canning It
Junior point guard Kendra Williams has bolstered her offensive output this season, averaging 9.3 points per game this season ? well above her career average of 2.8 points and last year's average of 3.3 points. She already has three double-digit point games this season, one more than she had in each of her previous two seasons with the Colonials. She is shooting 37.0 percent (19-52) from the field including 41.2 percent (7-17) from three-point range. Williams has reached double-digits in scoring in three of the team's last four games.

This Is How We Roll
Since the Colonials will spend a lot of time in the air this season (see On the Road Again), we are going to track how Robert Morris plays according to how they get to the city they are playing in. So far, the Colonials are 1-3 on the road ? 0-1 when traveling by bus and 1-3 when flying. RMU flys via Southwest and US Airways and always uses Myers Trailways when bussing.

Spreading the Wealth
Robert Morris had 10 different players score against Kent State with just two, Chinata Nesbit (21) and Sade Logan (23), reaching double-digits. Four players recorded their first career points as a Colonial on Thursday ? freshmen Tiffany McMillion and Shakeena Cunningham and juniors Grace Williams and Brittany Dukes. The only players on the RMU roster without a point this season are freshman Destiny Harrison and juniors Gwen Edwards and Latavia Vails. Vails has yet to dress this season.

Double-Double Trouble
Senior Chinata Nesbit recorded her 17th double-double as a Colonial with 17 points and 11 rebounds at Nebraska (12/2/07). She had her first of the season at Florida (11/12/07), tearing down 12 rebounds and adding 16 points in the team's four-point loss. Nesbit tallied 10 of her 16 points in the second half. She also tied for the team-lead with three steals. She and senior Psyche Butler account for 32 of the team's 33 career double-doubles. Junior Sade Logan has the only other one.

The First & Hopefully Not the Last
Robert Morris earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the 30-history of the program. Robert Morris was issued a #13 seed. losing to #4 North Carolina State, 82-54, on the Wolfpack's home court and the Fresno Regional. The Colonials tied for the regular-season Northeast Conference title with a 15-3 record and a 24-8 overall mark. Robert Morris earned the right to play for the national title winning the NEC Tournament and the automatic bid.

The Old
Robert Morris returns just three players from last years team ? redshirt-senior Psyche Butler, senior Chinata Nesbit and junior Kendra Williams. Combined, the three have played five seasons in Colonial jerseys. Williams came in as a true freshman playing in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Butler and Nesbit are both transfers. Butler came to RMU in 2005-06 as a transfer from New Mexico JC. Nesbit is also a transfer, having played at Chipola JC before joining the Colonial team last season.

The New
Fifth-year head coach Sal Buscaglia has 10 new players on his bench this season, three true freshmen, six transfers, and one rejoining the squad after sitting out the 2006-07 season to concentrate on academics. Shakeena Cunningham, Destiny Harrison and Tiffany McMillion are the freshmen. Brittany Dukes, Gwen Edwards, Joy Ike, Angela Pace, Latavia Vails and Grace Williams all attended junior colleges before joining the RMU team. Sade Logan sat out the 2006-07 season after transferring to RMU from Chattanooga State.

On The Road Again
The Colonials are going to rack up the frequent flyer miles in 2007-08. They play 10 of their first 13 games on the road and have just two non-conference home games. In all, the Colonials have 18 road games and 11 home games. Robert Morris will rack up roughly 8,584 travel miles during their non-conference schedule alone. RMU opens the season in Gainesville, Fla., and returns to the Sunshine State again to participate in the FAU Thanksgiving Classic in Boca Raton, Fla. The Colonials then travel to Lincoln, Neb., then directly to Oxford, Ohio, from there. After a home game, RMU buses to Athens, Ohio, before returning to Pittsburgh and flying to New Orleans, La., for the Tulane DoubleTree Classic.

Once, Twice, Three Times The Ladies
The Colonials clinched a spot in their third straight NEC Tournament, all of them coming under coach Sal Buscaglia. They also won their 20 games for the third straight season when they defeated Central Conn. State on Feb. 24. 2006-07 was the first time in those three seasons that they have won 20 games in the regular season. With the victory over FDU on March 3, the Colonials have also held a spot in the NEC Tournament semifinals in each of the last three seasons.

Home-Sweet-Home
When the Colonials actually play at the Charles L. Sewall Center, they are difficult to beat. In the last three seasons, Robert Morris has posted a 39-6 record at home, including a team record 14 home wins last season. RMU was 12-3 in 2004-05 and 12-1 in 2005-06, both numbers that tied the previous record. Since the opening of the Sewall Center during the 1985-86 season, RMU has compiled a 142-138 record for a .507 winning percentage.

Winning Record
Yes, Robert Morris had a winning record of 24-8 in 2006-07, but they also set a record for winning. The 24 wins they piled up last season - 21 in the regular season and three NEC Playoff wins - set a new standard for the program. The previous record of 23 had stood since the 1982-83 squad went 23-5.

Aye-Aye Captain(s)
Senior Psyche Butler was named team captain for 2007-08 and Kendra Williams was named associate captain. Williams is the only returnee on the squad who has attended Robert Morris since her freshman season. Butler transferred to RMU from New Mexico JC and is the only player besides Williams who has played more than one season in a Colonial uniform.

The Butler Did It
Senior captain Psyche Butler put aside some of her offensive opportunities last season to concentrate on becoming the best defensive player on the team, and perhaps, the conference. In 2005-06, she averaged 12.2 points, 10.1 rebounds and took 218 shots. Last season, with Sugeiry Monsac returning from injury and Chinata Nesbit sharing some of the scoring load, Butler's numbers declined while defensive stock skyrocketed. Butler averade 9.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and took 187 shots last season while consistently drawing the toughest defensive assignments.

Season to Remember
Senior Chinata Nesbit had one of the most impressive seasons in a Colonial uniform ever. The forward earned the Northeast Conference Tournament MVP and a spot on the NEC All-Conference First Team. She finished second in the conference in scoring (19.2) and rebounding (10.3). She filled the RMU single season record books as well, setting records for games played (32), points (613) and free throw attempts (230) while finishing in the top-five in points per game (19.2), rebound (331), blocks (34), field goals made (227), field goals attempted (475) and free throws made (145). She also had 113 assists, ninth all-time. In fact, it would be easier to list the categories that Nesbit's name doesn't appear in ? steals (54), three point field goals (14), three point attempts (47), three point percentage (.298) and free-throw percentage (.630).

Nationally Nesbit
Senior Chinata Nesbit ranked 25th in the nation in scoring (19.2) and was 17th nationally averaging 10.3 rebounds per game in 2006-07. She aslo ranked just inside the top-100 in field goal percentage, connecting at a 47.8 percent clip. She made 227 of 475 shots.

Sal-vation
In a span of just four years, Sal Buscaglia has 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. After going 20-9 last season, Buscaglia became the first head coach in the program's history to guide a team to back-to-back 20 win seasons and led RMU to its first-ever NCAA Tournament while winning a team record 24 games last season.

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