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Jazmyne Frost

Women's Basketball

Late Rock rally falls just short, 80-77 to WJU

Jazmyne Frost, Erica Aiello and Aidan Geise all scored career-highs but a furious Slippery Rock rally came up just short in an 80-77 setback to Wheeling Jesuit Tuesday night.

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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team went on a 14-0 run late in the game but saw its comeback attempt fall just short in suffering an 80-77 setback to Wheeling Jesuit University Tuesday night at Morrow Field House.

The Rock (0-2) trailed by 17 at 78-61 with 4:14 remaining before putting together a 14-0 charge to cut the deficit to 78-75 with just 20.9 seconds left. Two big free throws and a smart defensive foul by the Cardinals (1-0) in the final 16 seconds kept them in front for the win.

Slippery Rock finished with four players in double figure scoring, including two with double-doubles and three with a career-high point total.

Jazmyne Frost led the way with a career-high double-double of 26 points and 14 rebounds, both of which were game-highs. She missed just three shots from the floor in going a career-best 10-of-13 from the field.

Erica Aiello added a double-double of her own, matching her career-high with 14 points and also handing out 10 assists. Aiello and Frost combined to score the first 19 points of the game for Slippery Rock.

The Rock got a career-high from Aidan Geise for the second time in two games this season. The sophomore finished with 16 points to top her previous best of 12 points, which she scored last weekend in the season opener.

Megan Hardiman capped the double figure scorers for Slippery Rock with 10 points and Rebecca Olkosky chipped in eight points to round out the top performers.

Slippery Rock finished the game shooting 39.7 percent from the field, connecting on 25-of-63 attempts. The Rock was 22.2 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, hitting 6-of-27 attempts, and shot 60.0 percent at the free throw line with a 21-of-35 effort.

Wheeling Jesuit placed three players in double figures in its season opener, led by an 18-point showing from Breanna Butler, who also grabbed seven rebounds. Taneka Lewis added 16 points and Emily Robinson chipped in 13 points.

The Cardinals shot 43.8 percent from the field (28-of-64), 36.4 percent from long distance (8-of-22) and 64.0 percent from the free throw line (16-of-25).

Slippery Rock finished the game with a 46-40 advantage in total rebounds, while Wheeling Jesuit posted an 18-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

The game featured spurts from both teams for the first 15 minutes of the opening half before Wheeling Jesuit took control.

The Rock jumped out to a 12-6 lead just 3:31 into the game before the Cardinals put together an 8-0 run to take a 14-12 lead with 13:26 to play in the half.

Slippery Rock answered with its own 7-0 run to regain the lead 19-14 with 12:19 to play in the half and maintained that margin until just over nine minutes to play before the intermission.

Trailing 22-17 with 10:23 to play, Wheeling Jesuit put together an 8-0 run to take a 25-22 lead and the teams traded points until it was 31-31 with 5:04 to play in the period.

From there, the Cardinals put together a 15-1 run to close the half with a 46-32 lead. They added the first five points of the second half to cap a 20-1 run and open up a 19-point lead, 51-32 with 18:37 to play.

Slippery Rock chipped away at the deficit and got it down to six points at 61-55 with 10:20 to play, but Wheeling Jesuit responded again with a 17-6 run to make it 78-61 with just 4:14 to play.

Four free throws from Hardiman kicked off The Rock's comeback run, which included two buckets from Aiello, a steal and fast break layup from Geise and layups from Frost and D'Asia Chambers that totaled the 14-0 run that cut the deficit to 78-74 with 20.9 seconds to play.

Jaila Bryant was fouled on the next Wheeling Jesuit possession and made one of two free throws with 16 seconds left to make it 79-74.

Hardiman was fouled on the next Rock possession after coming up with an offensive rebound and she knocked down both shots with five seconds left to make it 79-77.

Butler was fouled with four seconds left and hit the first free throw but missed the second, which caromed to Chambers to set Slippery Rock in motion with a chance to tie.

Bryant raced to the middle of the court to foul Aiello with one second left before she could get off a potential game-tying 3-point effort, resulting in a pair of missed free throws before time expired.

This marked the second straight year that SRU has lost its second game of the year at the hands of Wheeling Jesuit by three points after the Cardinals earned a 3-point edge Nov. 13, 2012 in Wheeling, W.Va.

Slippery Rock continues non-conference play Sunday with a noon tip at Urbana University in Ohio and returns home to open conference play against Clarion Nov. 20 at 6 p.m.




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