INDIANA, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team erased a 17-point first half deficit, but couldn't quite pull off the comeback victory in an 86-77 loss at ninth ranked Indiana University (Pa.) on Wednesday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division play at the Kovalchick Center.
 
The loss drops The Rock's record to 10-14 overall and 6-14 in league play. The defeat, combined with Pitt-Johnstown's win against Mercyhurst, pushes Slippery Rock down to seventh in the PSAC-West standings and one spot out of qualifying for the PSAC Tournament. Slippery Rock is still in playoff contention with two games remaining in the regular season, but has little margin for error.
 
Slippery Rock was led by the duo of senior forward D'Asia Chambers and junior guard Taylor Siggers.
 
Chambers scored 21 points on 8-for-17 shooting from the field as well as a 5-for-7 effort from the foul line. She also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Chambers now has nine 20-point games to her credit this season. Siggers nearly matched Chambers with 19 points in addition to a season-high seven assists. Siggers has scored 17 or more points in four out of her last five games.
 
Freshman guard Shannon Jack and sophomore guard Audrey Stapleton chipped in nine and eight points, respectively, off the bench.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock finished with a season-low six turnovers while shooting a respectable 46.2 percent (30-for-65) from the field and 75 percent (12-for-16) from the foul line. The Crimson Hawks made 50.8 percent (30-for-59) of their field goals and 60.9 percent (14-for-23) of their free throws.
 
Slippery Rock played well in the first half, making 43.8 percent (14-for-32) of its shots and committing just three turnovers, but Indiana kept The Rock at bay thanks to its perimeter game that saw the Crimson Hawks make 10 three-pointers in the opening period.
 
It appeared as if Indiana was going to pull away early after jumping out to a 31-14 lead midway through the first half before Siggers almost single-handedly kept Slippery Rock in the game by proceeding to score eight points and assist on a pair of Megan Hardiman layups during a 12-0 Rock run that cut IUP's lead down to five points at 31-26 with 6:29 remaining in the half.
 
The Crimson Hawks responded by going 6-for-9 down the stretch and holding Slippery Rock to only eight more points to take a 46-34 lead into halftime.
 
Indiana maintained its double-digit lead early on in the second half before Slippery Rock rattled off 22 of the games next 27 points to pull even with the Crimson Hawks at 62-62 with 8:34 remaining in regulation.
 
Slippery Rock was nearly flawless during its spurt. As a team, The Rock went 9-for-14 from the floor and did not commit a turnover while forcing two of IUP's 10 miscues on the night. As Siggers did in the first half, Chambers spearheaded the run by scoring eight points and pulling down four rebounds.
 
However, SRU was unable to continue its push as Indiana fought back with a quick 7-0 run of its own on the way to opening up a 74-64 advantage at the 4:26 mark in the half. Slippery Rock continued to claw back into the game by cutting its deficit to as little as five points on two separate occasions, but Indiana was able to make just enough of its free throws in the game's final moments when SRU was forced to foul to stave off The Rock's upset bid and come away with the 86-77 win.
 
After seemingly being unable to miss from long range in the first half, Indiana made only two of its 10 three-pointer attempts in the final 20 minutes. Slippery Rock finished the second half with 43 points, its fifth highest second half output of the year.
 
Lindsay Stamp, who entered the game as the PSAC's leading scorer, tallied 26 points and seven rebounds to lead Indiana to the victory.
 
SRU held advantages over Indiana in points off turnovers (12-7), points in the paint (28-24) and bench scoring (21-15). Slippery Rock's bench has outscored its counterparts 159-134 over the last eight games.
 
Saturday's game was Slippery Rock's fifth against a team ranked in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association top 25 poll this season.
 
Slippery Rock returns to action on Sunday when it travels to Clarion University for its final away game of the regular season. Tipoff against the Golden Eagles is set for 1 p.m. Slippery Rock defeated Clarion, 68-57, earlier in the season at Morrow Field House.