FAIRFIELD, CONN. (March 13, 2016)— The Sacred Heart women's basketball team's NEC Tournament run ended on Sunday with a 56-51 loss to the Robert Morris Colonials at Coach Bike Court at the Pitt Center.

Sacred Heart (20-12) was led in scoring by Hannah Kimmel (Harpursville, N.Y.) with 13 points. Shelby Hickey (Littleton, Colo.) added nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field with Kelcey Castro (Fair Lawn, N.J.) putting up eight points. Alissa Tarsi (Clinton, N.J.) had a game-high 13 rebounds. Robert Morris' (20-12) Ashley Ravelli led all players with 14 points and seven assists. Anna Niki Stamolamprou had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Robert Morris led 19-14 after the first quarter, scoring eight points off of three Sacred Heart turnovers. The Pioneers used a 7-0 run midway through the second quarter to tie the game 23-23 on a Castro three-pointer with 4:44 left until halftime. The Colonials closed the half on an 8-4 run to take a 31-27 lead into the locker room.

Robert Morris took its largest lead of the game with 6:31 remaining in the third quarter on a three by Lou Mataly which made the score 40-31. The Pioneers battled back to get within three points, 42-39, with 2:50 to play in the third on an Adaysha Williams fast break layup and a Lerae Ettienne free throw. The Colonials, however, extended the lead back to six with 0.2 seconds left in the quarter on a Nia Adams three-point play that gave RMU a 45-39 lead. 

RMU led by seven with 4:28 to play before the Pioneers made one last charge. Sparked by two Williams free throws, SHU went on a 6-0 run to make the score 52-51 with 0:14 left. After Ravelli made two free throws to put the score at 54-51 with 0:13 to play, the Pioneers had one last chance to tie the game. With 0:06 to play, Williams put up a three that missed the mark and RMU went on to win the game.

Noteworthy:

• Kimmel scored in double-figures for the 21^st consecutive game and for the 29^th time this season
• Hickey and Kimmel were named to the NEC All-Tournament Team after averaging 10.7 and 11.7 points per game respectively through the three rounds

Turning Point:

• Robert Morris got a three-point play from Nia Adams with 0.2 seconds left in the third quarter, giving the Colonials a 45-39 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

First Quarter:

• Both teams were held scoreless through the first two minutes of the first quarter until Stamolamprou picked off a SHU pass and laid it in on the fast break. Kimmel was quick to answer with a lay-in of her own to tie the game 2-2 2:14 into the game.
• The Colonials managed to string together two field goals for a 10-5 lead at the 4:52 media timeout
• RMU got two more points coming out of the break on a Stamolamprou jumper. Tykera Carter (Alexandria, Va.) came in off the bench to stall the Colonial offense , making a tricky layup to cut Robert Morris's lead to five points, 12-7.
• The Redshirt-Junior, who accounted for 10 of the Pioneers' first-quarter points, made it a two-point game, 14-12, with a deep triple at the 2:23 mark.
• Carter landed the last basket of the quarter, a layup with just under a minute left, to make it a 19-14 game going into the second quarter

Second Quarter:

• RMU extended its lead to seven, 23-16, on a Rebeca Navarro jumper at the 8:44 mark
• SHU responded with a 7-0 run of their own, capped off by a Castro three that tied the game 23-23 with 4:44 remaining until halftime
• Mikalah Mulrain tipped the score back in favor of the Colonials where it stayed until the halftime buzzer as Robert Morris outscored SHU 5-2 in the final minute of the half to go up 31-27 at halftime

Third Quarter:

• Sacred Heart got the first points of the quarter on a layup from Adaysha Williams (LaCrosse, Wis.), but the Colonials answered with six straight increasing their lead to eight points, 37-29
• Hickey cut off the run with a layup with 7:51 on the clock. Over the next three minutes, the junior outscored the Colonials 7-3
• Coming out of the media timeout, Carter continued the streak driving the lane for a layup before Williams did the same to make it a two-point game, 40-38, with 3:31 left in the period
• With the Pioneers trailing by just three after Lerae Ettienne (Kensington, Md.) went one-for-two from the free throw line, Nia Adams converted a three-point play with 0.2 seconds left to put the Colonials ahead 45-39 going into the final quarter

Fourth Quarter:

• Two layups from Hickey brought the gap down to two points, 47-45, with 6:55 left in regulation. Before the Pioneers could get anything going, Leah Wormack scored three straight (one from the foul line and two with a jumper) pushing the Colonials back ahead by five with just over five minutes to play
• SHU went on a 6-0 run in the span of 2:33 to cut the deficit to one, 52-51, with 0:14 remaining. Williams had three of the six points, all at the foul line.
• Williams missed a three-pointer with six seconds remaining that could have tied the game 54-54.