CLARION, Pa. – Ciara Patterson scored 20 points and Krista Pietropola added a career-high 15 points to lead the Slippery Rock University women's basketball team to a 71-58 victory at Clarion University Wednesday night.
 
Slippery Rock never trailed Wednesday to improve its overall record to 8-8 and its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division mark to 5-6. Clarion dropped to 6-12 overall and 6-6 in league competition with the loss.
 
Patterson, who was coming off of a career-high 26 points in SRU's last game at Indiana (Pa.), produced her second consecutive 20-point effort by going 7-for-9 from the field overall, a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range and a 2-for-2 showing from the foul line. In addition to her game-high point total, Patterson pulled in five rebounds, passed out two assists and made one steal.
 
Pietropola was 6-for-12 from the field and 3-for-6 from long range en route to the highest scoring total of her young career. Megan Hardiman tallied The Rock's first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Lexi Carpenter was SRU's fourth leading scorer with nine points to go with four rebounds and three steals. Audrey Stapleton and Erica Aiello added six points apiece with Stapleton grabbing eight rebounds and Aiello passing out a team-high six assists.
 
For the game, SRU shot 41.9 percent (26-for-62) from the field and made eight 3-pointers while holding Clarion to a 33.8 (22-for-65) field goal percentage. Slippery Rock outrebounded the Golden Eagles 44-39 and also held advantages over Clarion in points off turnovers (22-11), points in the paint (32-28) and bench points (20-15). Both teams committed 16 turnovers.
 
Slippery Rock held Clarion scoreless for the opening 4:38 of the game on the way to a 12-2 run through the first media timeout of the first quarter. Five different players scored during the early run with Hardiman pacing the group with four points. Stapleton picked up four rebounds as well early on.
 
SRU went on to score eight of the quarter's final 15 points, thanks in part to a pair of 3-pointers by Patterson, to carry a 20-9 lead into the second quarter. Patterson finished the period with eight points.
 
The Rock and Golden Eagles accounted for four points each through the first four minutes of the second quarter, but SRU owned the rest of the quarter by outscoring Clarion 10-5 over the remainder of the half to take a commanding 37-18 lead into halftime.
 
Slippery Rock shot 41.2 percent from the field and made five 3-pointers in the first half while holding Clarion to a 25.8 field goal percentage and forcing the Golden Eagles into nine turnovers.
 
SRU outscored Clarion by five points, 24-19, in the third quarter to take a 61- 37 lead into the fourth on the way to a 71-58 victory. The Rock's core nine-woman rotation did not play for the final three minutes of regulation.
 
Tyra Polite made five 3-pointers and finished the night with a team-high 17 points for Clarion.
 
Slippery Rock returns home 5 p.m. Saturday to host California (Pa.), the reigning national champions, at Morrow Field House.