FAIRFIELD, CONN. (February 23, 2015)—Katie Shepard (Lone Tree, Colo.) was perfect going 5-for-5 from the floor with 15 points in Sacred Heart women's basketballs' 69-60 triumph over the Robert Morris Colonials Monday night on Coach Bike Court. Hannah Kimmel (Harpursville, N.Y.) led the Pioneers with 18 points as SHU improved to 14-11 on the season and 9-6 in Northeast Conference play with the win, and Robert Morris fell to 14-13 and 12-4 against conference opponents.
The Pioneers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead behind back-to-back baskets from Lerae Ettienne (Kensington, Md.). Janee Brown put Robert Morris on the board with a layup, but SHU's offense continued strong working its way to an 8-2 lead with just under 16 minutes in the half.
Sacred Heart took its biggest lead of the first half on a Hannah Kimmel (Harpursville, N.Y.) jumper with 11:06 remaining. The Colonials chipped away at the Pioneers' lead while holding SHU scoreless for nearly three minutes. With 2:47 left in the half, RMU's leading scorer Anna Niki Stamolamprou landed a triple to give the Colonials their first lead of the game. Continuing their offensive streak, Robert Morris allowed Adaysha Williams (LaCrosse, Wis.) two layups down the stretch, but held onto a 27-25 lead at the halftime buzzer.
The Colonials held onto the lead to open the second half, but just under the 17-minute mark, Shepard went 1-for-2 from the charity stripe to cut RMU's lead to just one. On their next possession, Ettiene, who tallied 10 points in the victory, put Sacred Heart ahead for the final time, 33-32, right in the middle of the Pioneers' crucial 16-0 run. Katherine Haines (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) expanded the lead with back-to-back lay-ins before Shelby Hickey (Littleton, Colo.) capped off the offensive spurt with a pair from the free throw line giving SHU a 41-32 advantage the Colonials could not come back from.
Stamolamprou led all players with 19 points shooting .444 (4-for-9) from beyond the arc.
Sacred Heart is back in action in a rare Wednesday game when they host Fairleigh Dickinson at 7:00 p.m. in the makeup game from the snowed out January 26.
