WILBERFORCE, Ohio – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team dropped an 89-81 decision on the road to Central State University Saturday afternoon at Beacom/Lewis Gym in Wilberforce, Ohio.
 
The loss drops The Rock's record to 4-3 on the year overall. Central State improves to 2-3 on the season with the win.
 
Slippery Rock put five players in double figures against the Marauders with junior guard Lexi Carpenter leading the way on a game-high 23 points. Carpenter, who has now scored at least 20 points in a game three times this season, went 8-for-13 from the field overall, 1-for-3 from 3-point range and 6-for-7 from the foul line.
 
Senior guard Erica Aiello scored a season-high 15 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists. Junior guard Audrey Stapleton came off the bench to give The Rock 15 points while fellow junior guard Ciara Patterson added 13 points, five rebounds and five assists to the SRU cause.
 
Senior forward Megan Hardiman just missed out on a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. Freshman forward Morgan Henderson, who was making her first collegiate start, pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds to round out The Rock's top performers.
 
Slippery Rock forced 16 turnovers and made 80.6 percent (25-for-31) of its free throw attempts, but also committed 16 miscues while struggling to shoot the ball as evidenced by a 34.3 (24-for-70) field goal percentage and a 30.8 (8-for-26) 3-point field goal percentage.
 
SRU jumped out to a quick 14-point lead at 29-15 after one quarter of play behind eight and seven points from Stapleton and Hardiman, respectively. Hardiman scored the first five points of the contest.
 
However, the difference in the game came in the second quarter as Central State outscored The Rock 22-7 in the second 10 minutes of play to take a 37-36 lead into halftime.
 
Slippery Rock and the Marauders traded the lead back-and-forth four times over the opening four minutes of the third period, but a 19-11 Central State run to end the period gave CSU a commanding 10-point advantage that it would never relinquish en route to the eventual 89-81 victory. Slippery Rock cut its deficit down to as little three points twice in the final four minutes of regulation, but the Marauders were able to answer back both times to hold off SRU's comeback bid.
 
After quiet first halves, Carpenter and Patterson combined to score 29 points in the final 20 minutes of play Saturday.
 
Kourtni Perry led Central State to the win with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Slippery Rock will look to snap its two-game losing streak when it plays at Ohio Valley University 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.