CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team trailed for less than four minutes in a solid 67-58 win against Fayetteville State on day two of the CIAA-PSAC Challenge in Charlotte, North Carolina Saturday afternoon.
Slippery Rock exits the opening weekend of the season with a 2-0 record; SRU began the season with an 80-79 victory over CIAA-PSAC Challenge host Johnson C. Smith on Friday. Slippery Rock has now started the season 2-0 in each of the last two years.
Saturday was arguably the best game in
Morgan Henderson's young career at Slippery Rock. A day after making the game-winning free throw against Johnson C. Smith, the sophomore forward recorded a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds to go with one blocked shot. Henderson set a career-high in points and finished just one rebound away from matching her personal-best of 13.
Lexi Carpenter scored a game-high 19 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field and a 9-of-12 showing from the free throw line in addition to adding four rebounds and three steals.
The reserve duo of
Krista Pietropola and
Sierra Fordham both turned in a pair of personal-best performances as well. Pietropola collected virtually every ball that came her way, finishing with a game-best 13 rebounds while Fordham came off the bench to double her previous career-high with 10 points to go with two assists in 23 minutes.
Other standouts for Slippery Rock included
Mallory Heinle,
Brooke Hinderliter and
LeeAnn Gibson. Heinle went for six points and seven rebounds, Hinderliter scored eight points and Gibson pulled down six rebounds.
Slippery Rock held Fayetteville State to a field goal percentage of just 27.4 percent (20-for-73), including a 12.9 percent (4-for-31) effort from 3-point range. SRU also held a 51-49 edge in rebounds while forcing the Broncos into 20 turnovers.
Offensively, SRU shot 22-for-61 (36.1 percent) from the field overall and 22-for-28 (78.6 percent) from the free throw line. Slippery Rock did the majority of its scoring inside Saturday afternoon and finished the game with a 38-24 advantage in points in the paint.
Fayetteville State scored the game's first six points, but Slippery Rock overcame the deficit by closing the first quarter on a 19-2 run to take an 11-point lead into the second quarter.
FSU would answer back and trim The Rock's lead down to just four points (29-25) heading into halftime, but SRU put any thoughts of a Bronco comeback to rest with a dominant third quarter in which The Rock outscored FSU 20-6 to extend its lead to 49-31. Fayetteville State cut into Slippery Rock's lead in the fourth quarter, but never truly threatened SRU as The Rock closed out the contest to earn the 67-58 win.
Tajah Clark had 15 points and eight rebounds in the loss for Fayetteville State (0-2).
Slippery Rock continues its eight-game road trip with a pair of games next weekend at Shippensburg University on Nov. 19 and at Kutztown University on Nov. 20.
