SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team earned one of the biggest wins in recent program history Saturday afternoon with a 72-65 victory at Gannon University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division play.
 
The victory, SRU's third in the last four games, improves The Rock's record to 10-9 overall and 7-7 in league play. The win assures Slippery Rock of back-to-back double-digit victory seasons for the first time since the 2004-05 / 2005-06 campaigns. Additionally, the win snaps Slippery Rock's 10-game losing streak against the Golden Knights and is the first victory at Gannon (12-6, 10-4 PSAC West) since the 1993-94 season.
 
Gannon scored the first four points of the overtime period and appeared poised to close out the contest when Lexi Carpenter connected on a 3-pointer, drew a foul and converted the accompanying free throw to tie the game up at 62-62 with 2:15 to play.
 
Just over a minute later Slippery Rock got the ball back thanks to a steal by Morgan Henderson that allowed Audrey Stapleton to make a 3-pointer from the corner off of a pass from Erica Aiello to give The Rock a three-point lead that it never relinquished as Ciara Patterson made a layup and the duo of Stapleton and Carpenter combined to make 5-of-6 free throws while a stingy SRU defense held Gannon to just three points in the final minute to secure the win.

Carpenter led Slippery Rock with 24 points, six rebounds and three assists. She was 6-of-12 from the field and 11-for-12 from the foul line. After scoring only two points in the first half, Carpenter took over the game in the second half and overtime by scoring 22 points. The game marked Carpenter's fourth 20-point performance of the season.
 
Stapleton finished with 14 points and four rebounds while Patterson tallied 11 points and three steals.
 
Mallory Heinle chipped in eight points, five rebounds and two steals and Krista Pietropola had six points to round out The Rock's top scorers.
 
Aiello produced a team-high four assists and Sorriyah Ranger matched her season-best with eight rebounds.
 
The Gannon press, which it used for the majority of the first half and sporadically in the second half, was largely ineffective as SRU committed just 14 turnovers while forcing Gannon into 18 miscues, which Slippery Rock scored 18 points off of.
 
Slippery Rock also held advantages over the Golden Knights in field goal percentage (38.7-34.4), free throws made (19-15), blocks (4-3), steals (9-7) and bench scoring (30-7). Both teams recorded 42 rebounds.
 
Gannon jumped out to a 7-2 lead before The Rock countered with a 12-4 run over the following four minutes to take a 14-11 lead thanks in part to six consecutive points by Stapleton over the run. Gannon closed the opening quarter on a 7-0 spurt after McKenna Shives made two 3-pointers and one foul shot to put the Golden Knights up 19-14 through 10 minutes of play.
 
GU extended its first-quarter lead to eight points early in the second quarter. However, Slippery Rock once again answered back with an 8-0 run of its own to tie the contest at 22-22 with six minutes remaining in the half.

Gannon and Slippery Rock proceeded to trade baskets over the next four minutes until Gannon scored seven unanswered points to pull ahead 37-30, but Patterson sent The Rock into the break on a high note by making a tough drive to the hoop and finishing a layup with two seconds left in the quarter to make it a 37-32 contest at the half.
 
Slippery Rock controlled the third quarter from nearly start to finish, outscoring Gannon 19-10 in the period to carry a 51-47 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
SRU hung on to its lead for nearly nine minutes in the fourth quarter until Gannon's Jennie Thies hit a layup with 1:11 left in regulation to give the Golden Knights a 58-56 lead.
 
On the next Rock possession Carpenter was fouled and preceded to calmly make both free throws to retie the game with 53 seconds showing on the scoreboard. Stapleton then blocked a Gannon attempt to give Slippery Rock the ball back and a chance to win the game, but Carpenter's jumper missed and Megan Hardiman was unable to put back her offensive rebound and the game went in to overtime, where The Rock eventually pulled out the win.
 
Thies had 21 points and 15 rebounds for Gannon in the loss.
 
Slippery Rock will look for its third consecutive win when it travels back to Erie, Pennsylvania to play at Mercyhurst 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.