RMU Season, Sal Buscaglia's Coaching Career Come to Close at UConn in NCAA Tournament - Northeast Conference Skip To Main Content
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RMU Season, Sal Buscaglia's Coaching Career Come to Close at UConn in NCAA Tournament

3/19/2016


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Storrs, CT -- Robert Morris University women's basketball coach Sal Buscaglia will retire with 712 victories after the Colonials 2016 season came to a close with a 101-49 loss to #1 UConn in the first round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The 38-year veteran of the sideline spent 13 years of his career at Robert Morris, guiding his squads to a team record 224 victories, four Northeast Conference Tournament titles and four NCAA Tournaments.
 
To the end, Buscaglia continued to preach the message he has for years, not able to leave his team without telling them one more time. "Don't let anybody get in your way just because you're a female," said Buscaglia in a post-game press conference. "Knock those walls down, jump over them. Don't be the vice president, be the president. Don't be the assistant commissioner, be the commissioner. That's what I want to teach them, what I hope they learned. I hope in life, they will go on and remember what I said and never let anybody treat them as second class."
 
The outcome of the game seemed secondary after the emotional press conference. Anna Niki Stamolamprou led the Colonials with 11 points, becoming the team's career three-point leader. She had three in the game, giving her 210 for her career and breaking the mark that had been owned by Jenna Burkett. Ashley Ravellie tacked on eight points and five assists while Jocelynne Jones had a very strong performance off the bench with six points and five rebounds.
 
Kati Lou Samuelson led all players with 22 points. Breanna Stewart added 18 points as a total of six Huskies reached double-digits.
 
Megan Smith put Robert Morris on the board on the team's first offensive possession, a nice back-to-the-basket move answering UConn's opening possession three. After that, however, the Colonials had trouble preparing for the length of the nation's top-ranked team. RMU committed 13 first quarter turnovers that led to 21 points for the Huskies.
 
Smith opened the scoring in the second quarter as well, burying a three-pointer from the wing. Later in the quarter, Anna Niki Stamolamprou tied the career three-pointer record when she knocked one down from the left wing with 2:01 left in the opening half. The Huskies finished the half on an 8-3 push that made it a 64-15 ball-game at the half.
 
Typical of the effort they've shown under Coach Sal, the Colonials never stopped playing and outscored the Huskies, 25-16, in the fourth quarter. RMU continued to take charges late into the game despite the score and the team recovered to shoot 54.5 percent in the second half.
 
The Colonials finish the season 20-13, the ninth 20-win season in team history and the seventh under the 13 seasons that Coach Sal has been the head coach.