Moon Township, Pa. / Charles L. Sewall Center-The Robert Morris University women's basketball let a double-digit second half lead slip away in a 62-57 loss to Kent State in both teams' season opening game at the Charles L. Sewall Center Friday night. Robert Morris senior guard Angela Pace (Westchester, N.Y. / Woodlands (Monroe College)) led Robert Morris (0-1) with 13 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in 37 minutes of play.

Following four straight points from Pace, the Colonials found themselves holding a 52-40 lead with 5:25 left in the second half. The Golden Flashes cut the lead to five points after a Rachel Bennett layup and three-pointer sandwiched a 15-foot jumper by Ellie Shields. RMU pushed the lead back to seven, but a trifecta from Stephanie Gibson followed by a Shields fast break layup and baseline jumper by Bennett knotted the game, 55-55, with 1:43 left.

A long pass off the ensuing in-bounds play from junior Bianca Hooten (Canton, Ohio / Canton-McKinley (Bowling Green)) to Pace put the Colonials back on top for the last time, 57-55, with 93 seconds showing. Shields, however, scored the final three points of her 14 in the game 12 seconds later, giving Kent State its first lead by knocking down a free throw after getting fouled on a layup. Chenel Harris and Yoshica Spears went 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final 50 seconds to ice the game, 62-57.

Senior Monica Jones (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Woodland Hills (Howard College)) added 12 points for RMU while junior Kristine Silaraja (Ventspils, Latvia / Ventspils (Barton County)) had 10 in her Colonial debut. She knocked down three-of-four three-pointers and was 1-2 from the charity stripe to finish with 10 points.

Freshman Vega Gimeno-Martinez (Valencia, Spain / Spanish National U-20) had seven boards, six points, two blocks and two steals in her debut, but did commit six turnovers. Sophomore Mary Durojaye (London, England / Barking Abbey) added seven points and six rebounds.

Bennett went 6-13 from the field to finish with 14 points, tying Shields for game-high honors, and had six assists. Stephanie Gibson tacked on 12 points while Spears led all players with eight rebounds.

The Colonials opened the game on fire, hitting eight of their first nine shots, building an 18-7 lead when Gimeno buried a jumper with 12:31 to play in the first half. Hooten had a pair of three-balls and Jones added another during the run.

The 11-point lead held until the 8:16 mark when Bennett's jumper started a Golden Flashes comeback. Five minutes later, a pair of Shields free throws had cut the margin to 25-24, shrinking the lead from 23-12, with a 12-2 run. Gimeno hit a three with three seconds left to give Robert Morris a four-point, 30-26 halftime lead.

RMU came out on fire again in the second half, using a pair of Jones jumpers to power a 6-0 run to open the second half and take a 36-26 lead.

The Colonials shot 45.5 percent from the field in the game, but 23 turnovers led to 21 Kent State points. RMU was 8-13 (61.5 percent) from long range and a held a 35-32 edge in rebounds. The Golden Flashes hit 23-of-57 shots (40.4 percent) and were 5-21 (23.8 percent) on three-point attempts.

Robert Morris continues a three-game home stand to open the season when they host Akron in a 7:00 p.m. tip-off next Thursday, November 19.