Boxscore
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Senior guard
Amanda Nero pumped in a career-high 38 points, including a school record-tying nine 3-point bombs, Wedndesday night to lead the Slippery Rock University women's basketball team to a 101-72 win over visiting Lock Haven.
The win improved SRU's overall record to 10-14 and its division mark to 5-6.
Coupled with Gannon's 81-69 win over Edinboro, the win moved SRU into sole possession of fourth place in the division standings. The Rock entered Wednesday night's game tied with Edinboro for the fourth spot.
The Rock enjoys a one-game lead over both Edinboro and Clarion as it prepares for a crucial 1 p.m. game Sunday at Clarion.
Wednesday's loss was the 16th straight suffered by Lock Haven, which saw its season record fall to 3-21 and its division mark tumble to 0-11.
Nero, who also handed out six assists in the game, was one of four Rock players to finish with a double-digit scoring total. Senior post player
Haley Gaidosh scored 13 points, junior wing
Julie Molloy added 11 points and four assists and junior post player
Jess Schake chipped in 10 points, four assists and four rebounds.
Senior post player
Sasha Sales grabbed a team-high seven rebounds for The Rock..
Lauren Kelshaw scored a team-high 26 points for Lock Haven.
Lock Haven hung with The Rock for the first three minutes of action as the team battled to an 8-8 deadlock. Five minutes later, the hosts had a double-digit lead.
SRU held its largest lead of the first half, a 19-point (51-32) advantage, with two minutes left before halftime and took a 53-37 lead into the intermission.
Lock Haven trimmed the margin to a dozen, 61-49, with 15:45 left to play before The Rock regained the momentum and roared to a pair of 31-point leads in the final six minutes of action.
The Rock shot 606% (20 of 33) from the field in the first half of action en route to a final showing of 55.6% (35 of 63).
The hosts nailed a scorching 67% (14 of 21) of its shots from 3-point range and hit 17 of 22 (77.3%) free throws.
Lock Haven finished the game with a respectable 47.5% (28 of 59) efficiency from the field, hit five of 21 (23.8%) from beyond the arc and sank 11 of 16 (68.8%) charity tosses.
The Rock held a 33-30 advantage in rebounding and was on the lower end of a 20-15 turnover comparison.
Notes:
Nero tied the school record for treys set by Annette Bergman in 1992-93 in a road game at Oakland, Mich. and surpassed her own previous career-high scoring total of 30 points at Indiana (Pa.) Jan. 23, 2008.
Nero now ranks fifth on SRU's career 3-point field goals made chart with 149. She is 22 behind Lori Robinson's fourth-place total.
Wednesday's win gave The Rock a double-digit win total for the first time since the 2005-06 squad had a 13-15 mark. That was also the season in which the Green and White made their most-recent trip to the conference playoffs.
Wednesday's point total was The Rock's second highest of the season, behind only a school-record 111 points scored Dec. 4, 2008, against Salem International (W. Va.), and marked only the 11th time in Rock women's basketball history that the Green and White have scored 100 or more points.
