SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team was unable to overcome 21 turnovers and 22 California (Pa.) offensive rebounds in a 64-52 loss to the Vulcans Saturday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division contest.
 
The loss drops The Rock's record to 8-9 on the season overall and 5-7 in PSAC West play. California improved to 11-4 overall and 9-3 in league play with the win.
 
Slippery Rock held the Vulcans to a 31.9 (22-for-69) field goal percentage, but shot a season-low 28.8 percent (17-for-59) from the field offensively in addition to its 21 turnovers, the second most committed by SRU this season. The Vulcans scored 23 points off of Slippery Rock's turnovers.
 
Lexi Carpenter scored a game-high 16 points for The Rock, her highest point total in the last three games, while adding seven rebounds, two assists and one steal. Five of Carpenter's rebounds were offensive.
 
Ciara Patterson, who entered Saturday on the heels of scoring at least 20 points in back-to-back games, added 15 points and one steal. Audrey Stapleton just missed out on a double figure scoring total with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and a 1-for-1 mark from 3-point range. She also grabbed four rebounds.
 
Erica Aiello chipped in seven points and four assists while Mallory Heinle and Sorriyah Ranger had seven and six rebounds, respectively, to round out The Rock's leaders.
 
Despite its poor shooting performance and trouble on the glass, Slippery Rock kept the game close for much of the night thanks to a solid defensive effort. SRU trailed by just five points at 13-9 through one quarter of play. SRU proceeded to outscore California, 13-12, in the second quarter to cut its deficit to just 25-22 at halftime. Patterson scored nine of her 15 points in the opening 20 minutes to pace The Rock.
 
However, the difference in the game came at the start of the third quarter when the Vulcans went on a 14-3 run over the opening six minutes of the period to increase its lead to 39-25. California went on to push its lead up to as many as 18 points late in the third quarter before taking a 15-point advantage of 48-33 into the final period.
 
Slippery Rock trimmed the California lead down to as little as seven points on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter, but was unable to get any closer as the Vulcans made seven of 10 foul shots in the game's closing moments to escape with a 64-52 win. Carpenter scored nine points in the fourth quarter to lead SRU's comeback bid.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock held advantages over the Vulcans in 3-pointers made (5-2) and blocks (3-2). Slippery Rock was whistled for 25 fouls, 11 more than the 14 fouls the Vulcans were called for.
 
Precious Martin produced a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds for California. Seairra Barrett 11 points and 18 rebounds) and Shartara Parsons (13 points, 13 rebounds) also had double-doubles for the Vulcans.
 
Slippery Rock returns to Morrow Field House 6 p.m. Wednesday against Pitt-Johnstown.