MOON TOWNSHIP— Robert Morris women’s basketball (8-12, 2-9 Horizon League) returned home to the UPMC Events Center Thursday evening to take on the Northern Kentucky Norse (13-7, 7-4). The Colonials fell by a score of 62-47.

Sophomore guard Simone Morris supplied the spark early on for the RMU offense, scoring nine of the team’s first ten points. She finished with 13 points, leading the Colonials in scoring.

Morris talked postgame about how she was able to get off to a hot start.

“I wanted to come back from being a little off over the past few games,” Morris said. “The mindset was to come out, play hard, and be a good source for the team.”

After an evenly matched first quarter, turnovers would become a problem for the Colonials. RMU surrendered the ball eight times in the second quarter, allowing the Norse to create a seventeen-point advantage, tying their largest of the night.

Head coach Charlie Buscaglia spoke about some factors in key moments that led to the loss.

“We didn’t have the pace early on to play at their pace and read the defense,” Buscaglia said. “We just seemed to make up our minds on what we were doing as we came off a ball screen or an off-the-ball screen. Gotta watch the video and see where we were not really playing with our best pace.”

Buscaglia would continue to describe what he thought led to some of the team’s mistakes throughout the game.

“I think a lot of turnovers came from thinking that the play is going to score the ball for you,” Buscaglia said. “Players make plays. You can run any set or offense that you want, but the player will make the play. We’ve gotta get back to the mentality of having what we’re running needing to have pace and intelligence to it.”

Kailee Davis conducted the scoring for the Norse, finishing with 19 points on seven-of-13 shooting. Northern Kentucky finished the game shooting over 42 percent from the field.

Despite the loss, Buscaglia credited his team for not quitting and playing until the final buzzer.

“These kinds of stretches come, but you just have to continue to grind, go hard, and stay positive,” Buscaglia said. “I keep telling them we have to continue to knock on the door, and that can get redundant when you continue to fall, but I’m very proud of them for how they finished the game. They were on the floor diving for loose balls, and the team was standing even with under a minute left and down by 15. That attitude, whether we’re winning or losing, is all I know.

The Colonials will return to the UPMC Events Center on Saturday to take on the Wright State Raiders. Tip-off is slated for 1:00 p.m.