Boxscore
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Senior guard Julie Molloy scored a team-high 17 points and grabbed five rebounds and junior guard Grace Palucis added 16 points Saturday afternoon as the Slippery Rock University women's basketball team ended a three-game losing streak with a tense, 68-64 win over visiting Cheyney University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference “crossover” action in Morrow Field House.
Senior guard Sandra Busser chipped in 11 points, all in the final half, for The Rock, who will take a 3-7 record into Sunday's 1 p.m. home “crossover” game against Shippensburg.
Angel Stephens scored a game-high 18 points for Cheyney, which sustained its third straight loss and will take a 3-5 record into a Sunday afternoon game at Mercyhurst College in Erie.
Molloy scored 11 of her points in the final half to join Busser as the leaders of an attack that saw the hosts, who held an eight-point halftime lead, withstand an intense Wolves' comeback effort.
Palucis, meanwhile, scored 14 of her points in the first half before being hindered by foul trouble in the final 20 minutes.
Palucis nailed the first of her four first-half 3-point shots to give The Rock its first lead of the game, 3-2, after 30 seconds had elapsed.
The trey started an 11-1 Rock run that gave the hosts an eight-point lead at the 16:00 mark. The hosts never trailed the remainder of the opening half.
Cheyney clawed back to trim the margin to two, 15-13, four minutes later and trailed by only three, 27-24, with 6:15 left before halftime.
The Rock withstood that challenge and, with 1:45 left before the intermission, held an 11-point, 39-28, advantage on a trey by Molloy.
The margin at halftime was eight points, 41-33.
Palucis hit five of eight shots from the field in the first half, highlighted by a 4-of-5 efficiency from beyond the 3-point arc, to lead The Rock in scoring with 14 points. That surpassed her previous season-high scoring total of 12 points in the season-opener at Tiffin.
Caudill added eight points, Molloy six and Mikatavage five.
As a team, The Rock made 50% (13-26) of its shots from the floor in the first 20 minutes, nailed seven of 12 (58%) treys and sank eight of 10 free throws.
Cheyney, on the other hand, shot 42% (14-33) from the field, missed all three of its 3-point shots and hit five of seven (71%) of its free throws.
The Rock held a 19-14 rebounding edge, but was on the high end of an 8-6 turnover comparison.
Cheyney started the second half like a house afire as the Wolves scored The Rock by an 18-4 margin in the first five and a half minutes to take a 51-45 lead.
The Rock responded with an 18-6 run in the next 10 minutes to take a 63-57 lead with 4:30 left in the game and never trailed thereafter.
Key buckets in the run were treys by Busser and Molloy and a driving layup by senior guard Nikki Presto during a string of 11 unanswered points by the hosts.
Cheyney cut the lead to only one point, 65-64, with two minutes left but failed to score another point.
The Rock made three of six free throws in the final 120 seconds to set the final margin.
SRU finished the game with a 48% (23-48) efficiency on its field goal attempts, a 50% (11-22) showing from 3-point range and an 11-of-15 (73%) reading from the foul line.
Cheyney shot 40% (25-63) from the field, 22% (2-9) from beyond the arc and 60% (12-20) from the foul line.
The Wolves held a slim 35-34 rebounding edge and was the lower end of a 22-20 turnover comparison.
