The coronavirus pandemic can challenge even the most optimistic people.

Count Robert Morris women’s basketball coach Charlie Buscaglia among them.

His players are in their second 14-day quarantine within the last month, stuck in their rooms per Allegheny County rules and unable to enter a gym.

Buscaglia said one of quarantines was caused by contact with a strength coach who tested positive for covid, and the other by a false positive test.

“We’re doing a ton of coaching about life,” Buscaglia said. “Keeping that healthy joy, even when it’s a difficult moment or it’s bad news instead of good news, not handling either one of those differently, is what we’ve really had to talk to them about a lot.”

It’s unclear when or if Robert Morris will play any nonconference games considering all the practice time lost. Buscaglia stressed he has no problem with the system that’s in place to prevent covid but is worried about its effects on players.

“Two weeks without doing anything? You’re out of shape,” Buscaglia said. “Problem is we’ve basically been on a four-week quarantine with a couple days in the middle. Once we finish this quarantine, we will be on close to 30 days with two days of practice.”

The conference opener is scheduled for Dec. 12 at Cleveland State. Robert Morris moved to the Horizon League this year after a dominant run in the Northeast Conference. The Colonials won the NEC regular-season title the past four seasons and finished 23-7 overall and 17-1 in league play last winter. They advanced to the semifinals of the conference tournament before covid shut down the season.

All the Horizon League games will be weekend back-to-backs with the same team hosting to cut back on travel.

“I think it’s going to be challenging, but I think we’re ready for it,” said junior guard Isabella Posset, a Beaver graduate who was named third-team All-NEC last season. “I think we can compete with anyone when all 15 of us are ready to play.”

Posset led the NEC with 2.3 steals per game last winter and is the team’s top returning scorer with 7.9 points per game.

“She’s got great hands,” Buscaglia said. “She’s really great at tracing the ball on the defensive end, which I really love.”

Nneka Ezeigbo, a center who led Robert Morris with 14.1 points per game, graduated, so the team will count more on players such as 5-foot-10 senior forward Holly Forbes in the post. Forbes started all 30 games last season after transferring from Mineral Area College (Mo.) and averaged 4.8 points and 5.2 rebounds, which is tops among returners.

“Holly is someone who really jelled well with us right away,” Buscaglia said. “A physical, go-after-it type of player. I love it. I love that type of basketball that she has. She’ll rip the ball away from people. She’ll get on the floor.”

Senior guard Nina Augustin started 15 games last season and averaged 5.9 points and a team-best 2.7 assists.

“She has great vision,” Buscaglia said. “Defensively, she’s very good at playing with intelligence and physicality.”

Other key returners include senior guard Honoka Ikematsu (6.2 points, 2.0 assists, team-high 42 3-pointers) and sophomore guard Dahomee Forgues (5.2 points).

Buscaglia’s recent teams have relied on deep benches and balanced scoring. Last season, 10 players averaged 11 or more minutes. Expect that to stay the same, especially with all the back-to-back games.

“I think we’re going to be really good,” Posset said. “I think our team is very good at taking on new opportunities or anything that’s thrown at us. We don’t panic. I think that’s very important.”

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