Feb. 7, 2007

Final Stats

Slippery Rock, Pa. - The Rock overcame an icy-cold, frigid early shooting effort Wednesday night to record a much-needed 52-43 win over visiting Edinboro in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action in Morrow Field House.

The win ended a four-game losing skid for SRU, which improved its overall record to 9-13 and its PSAC-West mark to 3-5.

Edinboro, meanwhile, saw its four-game win streak come to an end and dropped to 12-10 overall, 4-4 in division play.

Amanda Nero led The Rock scoring attack with 13 points, while Chere' Marshall and Nijha McNeely added 11 points each. McNeely and Amanda Chojnacki shared the team lead in rebounds with six each, while Dana Stewart grabbed five. Marshall and Nikki Presto each recorded three steals.

The Rock is idle for one week before travelling to PSAC-West leader Indiana U. of Pa. (16-6 overall, 6-1 PSAC-West) for a 5:30 p.m. game on Feb. 14.

SRU's next home game is Feb. 17, when it will host Shippensburg (14-9, 4-4) in a 1 p.m. game in Morrow Field House.

Indiana currently leads the PSAC-West by two games over California U. of Pa. (15-7, 4-3), while Edinboro, Lock Haven (11-11) and Shippensburg are tied for third place with 4-4 division marks. The Rock is one game back of the pack with a 3-5 division record, while Clarion (7-15, 2-6) is in the division cellar.

The top four teams in the division at the conclusion of regular-season competition will advance to the conference playoffs.

SRU seeks a second successive trip to the conference tournament.

Wednesday's game

The Rock missed its first six shots vs. Edinboro and did not score its first points until Chere' Marshall nailed a jumper with 12:13 left in the opening half.

Adding to The Rock woes were eight turnovers in the first seven-plus minutes of play.

Fortunately for the Green and White, Edinboro suffered the same kind of shooting woes. The Fighting Scots did not score their first points until three minutes had elapsed in the game and did not record its field goal until seven minutes had run off the clock.

Edinboro also missed its first six shots from the floor and committed four turnovers before it scored its first field goal.

That initial field goal and four free throws that preceded its gave the visitors only a 6-0 lead when SRU finally got on the scoreboard.

The Rock didn't score its second field goal of the game until 7:30 remained in the first half half, when Amanda Kaufman canned a jumper from the left baseline, and trailed by 10 points (12-2) prior to the two-pointer.

Edinboro took a five-point, 20-15, advantage into the intermission and remained in the lead for the first five and half minutes of the final half before a Marshall jumper gave SRU its first lead of the game, 23-22.

The visitors scored 10 of the next 12 points, though, to take a 33-27 lead with 11:00 left to play before SRU made what proved to be the decisive comeback.

The Rock scored six unanswered points and 22 of the next 28 points to take a 49-39 lead with 1:30 remaining and then coasted home.