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Robert Morris women's basketball picked to win NEC title | TribLIVE.com
Robert Morris

Robert Morris women's basketball picked to win NEC title

Jerry DiPaola
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Robert Morris coach Charlie Buscaglia, second from left, celebrates with assistants Asami Morita, left, Teelah Grimes and Scott Schneider, right, after Robert Morris defeated St. Francis (Pa) 65-54 to win the NCAA college basketball game for the championship of the Northeast Conference women’s tournament Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Moon. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

There were no surprises when the votes were counted from the Northeast Conference women’s basketball coaches preseason poll.

Robert Morris was picked first for the fifth time in the past seven years. It was a unanimous vote.

RMU, which captured all 10 first-place votes, won its eighth NEC Tournament and seventh NEC regular-season titles last season and earned its sixth NCAA Tournament appearance. The Colonials (22-11, 16-2) finished 12th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing only 55.3 points per game.

Coach Charlie Buscaglia welcomes back nine letterwinners, representing 85.6% of the team’s scoring and 77.3% of its minutes from last season. The roster includes senior Nneka Ezeigbo and juniors Nina Augustin, Laura Carrasco, Holly Forbes, Honoka Ikematsu and Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu.

St. Francis (Pa.) finished second in the poll, followed by Mount St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart (tied for third). Bryant and St. Francis Brooklyn (tied for fifth) and Wagner, Long Island, Fairleigh Dickinson, Central Connecticut and Merrimack.

Jerry DiPaola is a TribLive reporter covering Pitt athletics since 2011. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in 1993, first as a copy editor and page designer in the sports department and later as the Pittsburgh Steelers reporter from 1994-2004. He can be reached at jdipaola@triblive.com.

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Categories: Robert Morris | Sports
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