ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – Robert Morris guard Jennifer Mackowiak made a bucket with four seconds left in regulation that proved to be the game-winner, as the Roosevelt women's basketball team missed a couple of game-tying looks as time expired to fall 70-68 at the RMU Athletic and Convocation Center on Wednesday evening.
The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for the Lakers (12-9, 5-6 CCAC), who were led by Jasmine Albert's double-double of 20 points and 17 rebounds. Both outputs were game highs by Albert, who tied the game by making a layup with a minute left.
Lindzy Cox tallied 16 points to go with eight assists, while Nadia Thorman-McKey had 13 points and eight boards.
Shamara Glover led the Eagles (9-11, 5-6 CCAC) with 19 points, while Mackowiak scored two go-ahead baskets in the game's final two minutes en route to 17 points off the bench.
RMU led most of the closely-contested game, with plenty of statistical similarities on both sides save for Roosevelt's 22-point margin for points in the paint and Robert Morris' 12-5 advantage in three-pointers. The Eagles took advantage of Roosevelt's slow start and went ahead by as many as eight points in the second quarter.
Roosevelt trailed by six in the fourth but battled back, with Thorman-McKey going 3-for-5 from the field to tally seven fourth-quarter points and the Lakers' defense holding RMU to just 5-of-17 shooting in the game's final 10 minutes.
Thorman-McKey tied the game with a layup on a feed from Cox to knot things at 66, but Mackowiak responded with 1:46 on the clock by connecting on the first of two big late jumpers.
It was Albert's turn to deadlock the contest, as Cox found the senior forward for a layup with 60 seconds remaining.
Roosevelt had multiple chances to go ahead after RMU turned the ball over twice, but missed shots by Albert and Becca Bergman set the stage for Mackowiak, who canned a shot thanks to a pass from Kianna Campbell with four ticks left that put the hosts up by two.
After a timeout by the Lakers, Albert attempted a jumper that missed. Cox was in the paint and quickly corralled the offensive rebound and put up another last-ditch attempt at a game-tying basket, but that also missed the mark as the final horn sounded.
"That was a tough one," Roosevelt head coach Keisha Newell said. "Our slow start defensively really hurt us. We gave up 42 points in the first half and didn't play with the urgency we needed to out of the gate.
"I'm proud that we never gave up and showed the heart that we did in the second half," Newell said. "We will learn from this and we will be better next game."
Roosevelt will look to begin a new streak this Saturday when the Lakers head to Elgin and face Judson.
