Correspondent photo / Robert Hayes. YSU's Casey Santoro drives past RMU's Myriam Traore on Wednesday night at UPMC Events Center in Moon Township, Pa.. She scored a game-high 19 points for the visiting Penguins.

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — For most of the season, the Youngstown State women’s basketball team has found a way to respond in the face of adversity. For the second straight game, the Penguins struggled to find an answer after getting “punched in the mouth” on Wednesday night.

Despite leading at halftime, a stagnant second half offensively proved to be YSU’s undoing in a 55-40 road loss to Robert Morris at the UPMC Events Center, as the Penguins dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season.

“We gotta be tougher. We really gotta be tougher. You gotta be tough when you go on the road. You gotta be tough when it’s a close game and you get punched in the mouth a little bit,” YSU head coach Melissa Jackson said.

“We weren’t aggressive in that second half. Again, here’s another game where we got punched in the mouth, and we didn’t respond. Until we grow up a little bit and respond better when that happens, we’re not going to win any league games, regardless if it’s a big-time game.”

Points were hard to come by for most of the evening, with both teams sitting atop the Horizon League in opponent field-goal percentage.

By the end of the first quarter, YSU and RMU were a combined 8-for-32 from the floor as the Colonials sat on a 10-9 advantage.

The Penguins (13-7, 6-4 Horizon) then started to find a rhythm during the second quarter, taking as much as a six-point lead, before leading 21-20 at halftime.

Erica King opened the second half with a 3-pointer — one of only three on the night for YSU — to stretch the Penguins’ lead. But from there, RMU took over.

The Colonials (13-6, 6-4 Horizon) outscored YSU 18-11 in the third quarter to take what would prove to be an insurmountable six-point lead — it would have been more, but Casey Santoro knocked down a three at the third-quarter buzzer to keep the Penguins within striking distance heading into the final period.

“I loved our response to start the game. I thought we had two really good days of practice, so I knew they were going to come ready to go, but I think we were content with a good 20 minutes,” Jackson said. “In this league, you gotta play 40 minutes. So I really hope this group buckles down and puts together 40 minutes of toughness and playing hard, because when we do that, we’re pretty good.”

RMU pulled away in the fourth quarter, as YSU struggled to find any kind of success offensively. The Penguins shot 25% from the floor in the second half, while the Colonials shot 52.4%.

Outside of 19 points from Santoro and 13 points from Sarah Baker, the rest of the team managed just eight points.

“Just a lack of toughness,” Santoro said. “I think we got punched a little bit in the second half, and we just kind of got in our heads mentally. I think not being mentally tough led to one mistake after the next, and maybe not making baskets that we normally would make.”

RMU puts a lot of size and length on the floor, with just one of its five starters measuring in below 5-foot-11, and following suit with more size off the bench.

As a result, the Colonials dominated on the boards, outrebounding YSU 44-22 with an 11-2 edge on the offensive glass.

Jackson insisted that the Colonials’ size didn’t bother them, but with the Penguins hesitant on many shots that they would usually take, it appeared to at least be in the back of their minds.

“I think all of that was our doing, us being unaggressive,” Jackson said. “You saw there were moments where we had wide-open layups, and we were shooting little 5-footers. Go up and score, go to the basket, and again, we didn’t do that.”

RMU turned the ball over 22 times, with YSU getting 13 steals. But the Penguins were unable to convert that into any meaningful offense, managing just six points off turnovers.

“We need to get layups off those and had multiple opportunities to do that. For whatever reason, especially in the second half, we shied away,” Jackson said. “I thought we were very aggressive to start the game. Bodies were flying, some calls weren’t made, but we were still pushing it in transition. The tempo was exactly what we needed it to be. Second half, for whatever reason, I don’t know, we backed off. We pulled it out. We wanted to be three happy again. Not the aggressiveness that we wanted.”

YSU still sits in a three-way tie for third in the Horizon League at 6-4, but the margin for error is quickly shrinking, especially as the Penguins return home to host Cleveland State on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Zidian Family Arena.

“As I told them, I know we’re a young team. We’re a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” Jackson said. “But I’m not waiting until they’re juniors and seniors. This team is special. We have the makings of a very special group and can put together a great run. We need to do it now and not wait for years to come.”