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SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team put a scare into No.2 and undefeated Gannon Wednesday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action before dropping a 76-73 decision at Morrow Field House.

The Rock scored the first six points of the game and battled Gannon to a 20-20 tie midway through the opening period before the visitors closed the half on a 24-11 run to open the game up. Slippery Rock battled back from the double figure deficit to get to within one possession, but Erica Aiello's last-second 3-point attempt missed long.

Slippery Rock drops to 1-6 overall and 0-3 in PSAC-West action with the loss, while Gannon improves to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in league games.

The Rock got a career night from forward D'Asia Chambers, who was nearly unstoppable in the paint. She scored a career-high 30 points on 14-of-25 shooting and also grabbed eight rebounds.

Aidan Geise chipped in 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Megan Hardiman and Aiello each added nine points and Jazmyne Frost contributed eight points to cap the top scorers.

Slippery Rock shot 50.8 percent from the field, connecting on 30-of-59 attempts from the floor. The Rock was 35.3 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (6-of-17) and 77.8 percent from the free throw line (7-of-9).

Gannon was paced by five players in double figures, led by 16 points from Jen Papich. Morgan Neighbors added 15 points off the bench, Brittany Batts finished with 14 points, Kelley Sundberg chipped in 11 points and Nettie Blake added 10 points.

The Golden Knights shot 42.9 percent from the field (27-of-63), 36.4 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (8-of-22) and 73.7 percent at the free throw line (14-of-19).

Slippery Rock was dominant in the paint, scoring 48 points from down low, including 18 second chance points. Both teams grabbed 35 total rebounds. Gannon scored 26 points off turnovers, while Slippery Rock netted 22 points off takeaways. One telling number was the depth for Gannon, which got 21 points off its bench. The Rock managed just two points off the bench.

Slippery Rock jumped out of the gates with the first six points and forced Gannon to call a timeout just two minutes into the opening half.

The Golden Knights responded with a 13-0 run out of the timeout to take a 13-6 lead. They maintained the seven-point edge at 18-11 with 12:44 to play in the opening half before The Rock battled back.

Slippery Rock capped a 9-2 run with a 3-pointer from Geise to tie the game at 20-20 with 9:41 to play before the break.

Gannon answered again, this time with an 11-0 run to make it 31-20 with four minutes left in the period. The lead was pushed out to a game-high 15 points late in the half and Gannon closed the half with a 24-11 run to lead 44-31 after Aiello knocked down a runner in the paint at the buzzer.

Slippery Rock opened the second half with a 17-10 run to pull back to within six points, 54-48, with 13:48 to play.

The Rock continued the run and cut it to three points at 60-57 midway through the half, but Gannon answered and pushed it back out to nine points, 70-61, with 5:18 to play.

SRU cut the deficit to four points when Geise knocked down all three free throws after being fouled with 1:05 to play and then cut it to one possession at 75-73 on a jumper from Chambers with 24 seconds left.

Gannon's Papich hit the front end of a pair of free throws but missed the second to give Slippery Rock the ball for one final possession.

SRU couldn't get a solid shot off on the first try as a pass was knocked out of bounds by a Gannon defender with six seconds left, setting up one final attempt by Aiello at the buzzer, but the shot just carried over the rim from the right side.

Slippery Rock continues PSAC-West play Saturday with a 1 p.m. game at conference newcomer Pitt-Johnstown.