Robert Morris’ first women’s basketball season under new coach Chandler McCabe didn’t go as some had planned — her team was predicted to finish last in the Horizon League — but a late-season run of nine victories in 12 games landed them a surprising No. 4 seed and a first-round bye in the Horizon Tournament.

Despite Monday’s 67-53 loss to top-seeded Green Bay in the semifinals in Indianapolis, RMU (15-16) nearly finished the year with a .500 record, a massive improvement over last season’s 6-24 mark.

“We just want to be competitive in every single game,” McCabe said in October prior to the start of the season.

While the 14-point loss in the semifinals at Corteva Coliseum isn’t what they wanted, it looked a whole lot better than the Colonials’ two regular-season outcomes against Green Bay.

The Phoenix won both games by an average of 31 points.

In the latest meeting, Natalie McNeal scored 20 points to go with 12 rebounds to lead Green Bay (28-5), which advances to play No. 2 Purdue Fort Wayne in the championship game at noon Tuesday.

Maddy Schreiber added 16 points and Jasmine Kondrakiewicz finished with 14 for Green Bay.

Isys Grady led Robert Morris with 13 points. Mya Murray posted a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds and Jada Lee also scored 12 points for the Colonials, who defeated Northern Kentucky in the quarterfinals.

After trailing by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, Robert Morris closed within six with 6 minutes left in the fourth on 1 of 2 free throws by Grady.

But Green Bay pushed the lead back to double digits and led by as many as 16 (65-49) while outscoring the Colonials 14-10 the rest of the way.

Robert Morris took an early 13-4 lead and ended the first quarter ahead, 17-12.

Green Bay, with McNeal scoring the Phoenix’s first 10 points of the second quarter, took the lead for good, overwhelming RMU, 21-5, to seize a 33-22 halftime advantage.

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