Complete Game Notes |
Live Stats |
Audio |
Video |
SRU Stats |
Edinboro Stats |
PSAC Standings SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - After a rare weekend off from competition, the Slippery Rock University women's basketball team will look to push its winning streak to three games when it travels to Edinboro University on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division play.
LIVE COVERAGEThe Edinboro sports information office will provide live stats, audio and video for Wednesday's game at the above links.
THE OPENING TIP• A Rock victory over the Fighting Scots would give Slippery Rock its first three-game winning streak against NCAA Division II opponents since the 2011-12 season.
• Slippery Rock is still in the hunt for a spot in the PSAC Tournament with five games to play in the season.
• The Rock enters Wednesday's game at 9-12 overall and with a PSAC-West record of 5-12 which places SRU seventh in the division standings to start the week behind fifth place Seton Hill (10-13, 7-11) and sixth place Pitt-Johnstown (9-12, 6-11). The top six teams in the PSAC-West at the end of the year qualify for the postseason tournament.
• It's important to note that if Pitt-Johnstown and Slippery Rock finish the season with the same record that SRU would place ahead of UPJ due to owning the tiebreaker.
• Earlier this season, SRU snapped a nine-game losing streak to Edinboro with an impressive 66-57 win at home against the Fighting Scots on Dec. 3, 2014.
ROCK LEADERSAs a team, Slippery Rock is ranked among the top half of the PSAC in a variety of statistical categories. Through 21 games, SRU ranks second in the league in free throw percentage (.734), third in defensive rebounds (28.3), fifth in field goal percentage defense (.375), eighth in rebounding (40.9), eighth in blocked shots (68), ninth in rebounding margin (+1/4) and ninth in steals (8.29).
Senior forward
D'Asia Chambers is the PSAC's second leading scorer at 16.6 points per game (ppg) and the league's third ranked rebounder with 10.0 rebounds per game (rpg). Her .494 field goal percentage is also the seventh highest in the league. Additionally, Chambers leads The Rock in steals with 35.
At 10.9 ppg, junior guard
Taylor Siggers is SRU's second leading scorer.
Junior guard
Erica Aiello has recorded team-highs in assists per game (3.6), the eighth most in the PSAC, and three-pointers made (25) while scoring 9.2 ppg and coming away with 1.6 steals a night.
In addition to averaging 4.5 rpg, junior forward
Megan Hardiman also shoots a team-best .804 (45-for-56) from the foul line. Fellow post player senior forward
Danielle Garroutte is SRU's top shot blocker with 15 on the season.
LAST TIME OUTSlippery Rock University picked up an impressive PSAC-West victory with a 70-63 win against Mercyhurst University Feb. 4 at Morrow Field House.
As was the case in its win at Pitt-Johnstown on Jan. 31, SRU started out slow in the first half before coming alive in the second half. Slippery Rock outscored Mercyhurst 42-26 in the final 20 minutes while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and limiting the opposition to just a 17.2 shooting percentage.
Slippery Rock was led by its junior backcourt duo of Aiello and Siggers. Aiello finished one point shy of a career-high with 20 points and five assists while Siggers delivered 19 points and four rebounds. The pair combined to shot 14-for-25 from the field.
SLOW STARTS, STRONG FINISHESWhile Slippery has had trouble getting its offense started in the first half of its last two games, it has proven adept at stringing together strong second periods.
SRU has combined over its last two second halves to shoot 33-for-61 (54.1 percent), commit just 12 turnovers and outscore its opponents 95-62 (+32). A more than Rock solid defensive effort in the second half has featured SRU holding the opposition to a 30.9 (17-for-55) field goal percentage while forcing 19 turnovers.
SCORING IN BUNCHESOffensively, Siggers has enjoyed her two best performances of the season in SRU's last two games. Before her dominant 19-point showing against Mercyhurst, Siggers scored 17 points in The Rock's win at UPJ. She reached the 36 points on a solid 50.0 (16-for-32) shooting effort from the field to go with four free throws.
Additionally, the 36 points represent Siggers' highest back-to-back scoring efforts of the year.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS• 9-0 - SRU's record in 2014-15 when shooting a higher field goal percentage than its opponents.
• 14 - Assists by Aiello in her last three games, her largest in a three-game span this season.
• 6- - Rebounds by freshman forward
Mallory Heinle in Slippery Rock's win against Mercyhurst, her most since pulling down six rebounds against Penn State Fayette on Nov. 25, 2014.
LEAVING HER MARKChambers is on pace to lead Slippery Rock in points, rebounds, steals and field goal percentage. Since 1986-87, this feat has only been accomplished twice. Once a season ago when Chambers earned the statistical grand slam for the first time and the other in 2010-11 courtesy of former Rock standout Danielle Smith.
At 16.6 ppg and 10.0 rpg, Chambers could be the first Rock player to average a double-double for a season since Stacey Green went for 11.7 ppg and 10.3 rpg in 2002-03.
Chambers also ranks fifth in Rock history in rebounds (676), ninth in blocks (54), 10th in steals (117) and 11th in points (1,208). She is one of three athletes to rank in the top 12 in Rock history in all four categories along with Beth Dansberger (1992-96) and Stacey Green (2001-05).
SUCCESS AT THE FOUL LINESlippery Rock is making its free throws at a historic rate. At its current free throw percentage of .734, this year's team would already rank second in Rock history behind the 2001-02 (.748) squad.
Helping SRU to one of its top free throw shooting seasons in school history is a collection of seven players shooting at least .652 from the charity stripe in sophomore guard
Audrey Stapleton (.963 / 26-for-27), Hardiman (.804 / 45-for-56), freshman guard
Shannon Jack (.794 / 27-for-34), Chambers (.738 / 76-for-103), Aiello (.704 / 38-for-54), Siggers (.694 / 43-for-62) and junior guard
Breanna Gross (.652 / 15-for-23). SRU does not have a player shooting under .600 for the year.
Stapleton has been especially lethal from the line with 23 consecutive made free throws.
Slippery Rock is one of only two teams in the PSAC, along with Bloomsburg, to have five players with at least 21 free throw attempts on the season shooting over 70 percent. SRU, Bloomsburg and Kutztown are the only teams to have six shooters hitting over 67.8 percent of their attempts on the year.
SCOUTING EDINBOROThe Fighting Scots have won five out of their last six games to improve their record to 16-5 overall. With a 13-5 league record, Edinboro has already secured a spot in the PSAC Tournament.
Edinboro is arguably the top shooting team in the PSAC. The Fighting Scots enter the game shooting 43.5 percent from the field overall, a league-high 39.8 percent from three-point range and 68.3 percent at the foul line.
Edinboro has a balanced scoring attack that features four players averaging at least 11.8 ppg with Aignee' Freeland leading the way at 13.9 ppg. Lauren Hippo and Valerie Majewski have combined to make 86 three-pointers. Laurel Lindsey guides the offense with a league-high 7.0 apg.
THE COACHESLeading the resurgence of Slippery Rock women's basketball is first-year head coach
Bobby McGraw. McGraw, a former assistant men's basketball coach at La Roche College and volunteer assistant with the SRU men's basketball team, was named as assistant coach of the SRU women's basketball team Oct. 22, 2013. In May of 2014, McGraw was promoted to acting head coach of the SRU women's program for the 2014-15 season, replacing Tanya Longo. McGraw has needed just over half of a season to record what are already the most wins by a Rock team in the last six seasons.
Stan Swank enters his 28th season as Edinboro's women's basketball head coach, he has guided the Fighting Scots to four of the best seasons in school history the last four years. All told, Edinboro is an incredible105-19 the last four seasons. For his career, Swank holds an overall record of 509-208. Swank has had 21 winning seasons during his 27-year tenure.
LAST SLIPPERY ROCK-EDINBORO MEETINGThe new era of Slippery Rock University women's basketball took a huge step forward on Dec. 3, 2014 when The Rock defeated preseason PSAC-West favorite Edinboro 66-57 at Morrow Field House. In addition to being Slippery Rock's fourth consecutive victory, the win also snapped a nine-game SRU losing streak to Edinboro, a team that has been nationally ranked for many of those contests.
The win was a carbon copy of what has made Slippery Rock so successful through the first seven games of the 2014-15 season. SRU's defense held Edinboro to a 31.8 field goal percentage from the field overall and a 17.4 percent shooting performance from three-point range while forcing 15 Fighting Scot turnovers and winning the battle of the rebounds 43-33. Chambers was once again the best player on the court Wednesday. She finished the game with game-highs of 27 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks. Chambers shot 8-for-14 from the field overall, 1-1 from beyond the arc and 10-for-13 from the free throw line.
THE SERIESSlippery Rock holds a 42-40 all-time series lead against Edinboro. The Rock's win earlier in the season snapped the program's nine-game losing streak to the Fighting Scots. The Edinboro-Slippery Rock rivalry is the longest running series for The Rock.
UP NEXTSlippery Rock returns home to Morrow Field House to host Seton Hill University on Feb. 14 at 1 p.m. in a critical PSAC-West game that could go a long way in deciding each team's postseason fate.
