GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team extended its season-long winning streak to four games with a 72-59 victory against Seton Hill University Friday afternoon at the Katherine Mabis McKenna Center in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.
 
The Rock's four-game winning streak is tied for SRU's longest run of consecutive wins in the last 13 seasons. The victory also improved Slippery Rock's record to 7-5 overall and 4-2 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division competition. SRU has now won seven of its first 12 games for a second straight year, prior to last season Slippery Rock had not started a year 7-5 since 2001-02.
 
Seton Hill, which had its own four-game winning streak snapped in the loss, drops to 8-4 overall and 4-2 in league games.
 
As has been the case over the duration of its winning streak, Slippery Rock once again was great defensively as it held the Griffins 13 points under its season scoring average and to a 31.3 (21-of-67) field goal percentage while also forcing Seton Hill into 15 turnovers.
 
After shooting just 23.5 percent (4-of-17) in the first quarter, Slippery Rock found its stride over the remainder of the game to hit 44.4 percent (20-of-45) of its shots over the final three quarters to finish the contest at 38.7 percent (24-of-62) from the field overall. SRU was also an efficient 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from 3-point range and 89.5 percent (17-of-19) from the free throw line. Slippery Rock's seven made 3-pointers matched a season-high.
 
Reigning PSAC West Freshman of the Week Brooke Hinderliter nearly recorded her first double-double of the season with 13 points and eight rebounds to go with three steals in 29 minutes. Hinderliter was 4-of-6 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the foul line.
 
Mallory Heinle added 12 points, four rebounds and one block while Lexi Carpenter overcame a rough shooting night from the field (4-of-18) by making all eight of her free throw attempts to finish with a team-best 16 points in addition to five assists and one steal.
 
Morgan Henderson and C.C. Dixon scored seven and six points, respectively, with Dixon also grabbing seven rebounds, passing out three assists, and blocking a season-high three shots. Henderson chipped in six rebounds and one block as well.
 
Cassidy Wright went 3-for-4 from long range to score nine points. Krista Pietropola came off the bench to grab a team-high nine rebounds while also blocking two shots and scoring five points. LeeAnn Gibson rounded out The Rock's top performers with six rebounds.
 
Seton Hill got out to a four-point lead, 18-14, following the first quarter before Slippery Rock responded with a 20-13 run in the second that gave SRU a 34-31 lead at halftime.
 
Slippery Rock and Seton Hill traded the lead back-and-forth four times over the majority of the third quarter before The Rock rattled off a 10-2 run to take a 50-42 advantage into the fourth. Heinle accounted for five points over the stretch and Wright capped the spurt with a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
 
SRU grew its lead out to as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter before Seton Hill rallied back with an 11-4 run that cut The Rock's lead down to just 56-53 with 3:35 remaining in regulation. However, just as all of the momentum seemed to be with Seton Hill, Wright answered with a crucial 3-pointer that sparked an 8-0 Rock run to give SRU a comfortable 63-53 lead with 1:37 remaining.
 
The Rock proceeded to close the game out by making nine of 10 foul shots, including eight straight by Carpenter, in the final stages of the game to secure the 13-point win.  
 
For the game, Slippery Rock held advantages over Seton Hill in rebounds (46-39), points off turnovers (19-9), points in the paint (34-22), second chance points (12-11) and bench scoring (18-7).
 
Jenna Kaufman scored a game-high 18 points and Chrisanna Green pulled in 16 rebounds to pace Seton Hill.
 
Slippery Rock will look to extend its winning streak to five games with a win at Mercyhurst University Jan. 3 at 5:30 p.m. A win against the Lakers would give SRU its longest winning streak since the 2000-01 season.