ASHLAND, Ohio – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team lost to Hillsdale College, 68-63, Sunday afternoon on day two of the Ashland Thanksgiving Classic in Ashland, Ohio.
 
Slippery Rock drops to 3-3 on the year with the loss while Hillsdale improves to 5-1 after the win.
 
Sunday's game was the definition of a back-and-forth contest. The largest lead for either team was just six points, the game was tied 10 times and the lead switched hands 10 times.
 
Hillsdale held a narrow 31-29 halftime lead and led for the majority of the third quarter before Mallory Heinle connected on a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left in the quarter to even the score at 48-48 heading into the fourth.
 
Slippery Rock began the final quarter on a 6-1 run to open up a five-point lead, 54-49, with 7:29 remaining in regulation. Lexi Carpenter scored four points over the run with Heinle also scoring two points.
 
The Chargers answered back and eventually erased The Rock's lead and took a three-point, 61-58, advantage of its own with under three minutes to play. Carpenter once again came up big for The Rock by hitting a 3-pointer to tie the contest with 2:21 showing on the clock. 
 
The game remained tied until Hillsdale's Brittany Gray made a 3-pointer of her own with 44 seconds left to give the Chargers a 64-61 lead. Slippery Rock was unable to answer Gray's shot on its next possession and was forced to foul Hillsdale with the hopes that the Chargers would be unable to convert their free throws. However, HC would make four its six foul shots in the game's final seconds to fend off SRU and escape with the victory.
 
Carpenter registered game-highs of 18 points, six assists and two steals while also pulling in five rebounds and committing a personal season-low two turnovers in 37 minutes.
 
Brooke Hinderliter went 5-for-8 from the field and 3-for-4 at the free throw line to finish with 13 points. Defensively, Hinderliter blocked one shot and made a game-high four steals.
 
LeeAnn Gibson and Krista Pietropola came off the bench to give The Rock nine points and six points, respectively. Both players had three rebounds with Pietropola also passing out three assists.
 
Morgan Henderson and Heinle rounded out The Rock's top performers against Hillsdale. Henderson had five points and six rebounds before fouling out. Heinle scored seven points and produced two steals.
 
Slippery Rock made a season-high seven 3-pointers and was a near automatic 92.3 percent (12-of-13) from the free throw line while shooting 39.3 percent (22-of-56) from the field overall. SRU committed just 14 turnovers, the second fewest in a game this season, while forcing the Chargers into 16 miscues, which Slippery Rock turned into 22 points. The 22 points off turnovers were the second most for The Rock this year.
 
SRU held Hillsdale to a 35.7 (25-of-70) field goal percentage and a mere 22.2 percent (6-of-27) effort from 3-point range. A key to the Chargers' win was their rebounding prowess. Hillsdale ended the day with a +24 (54-30) rebounding margin, which included 22 offensive rebounds. Maddy Reed (12 points, 15 rebounds) and Allie Dittmer (17 points, 10 rebounds) both recorded double-doubles for Hillsdale.
 
Slippery Rock concludes its season-opening eight-game road trip Wednesday against Malone University at 6 p.m. in non-conference competition.