SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team continued its quest towards earning a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament bid with a 62-53 win over Gannon at Morrow Field House Saturday afternoon on senior day.
The victory improves The Rock's record to 13-14 overall and 9-12 in league play. If Slippery Rock wins its regular season finale Wednesday at Pitt-Johnstown and Seton Hill University loses to Indiana (Pa.), SRU would earn a PSAC Tournament bid for a second consecutive year. Gannon drops to 16-9 overall and 14-7 in the PSAC West with the loss.
Saturday's win gives Slippery Rock its first season sweep of Gannon since the Golden Knights joined the PSAC. Additionally, the victory ensures this year's team of finishing with the most wins by a Rock team since the 2005-06 season.
Slippery Rock forced Gannon into 20 turnovers and held the Golden Knights to a 32.7 field goal percentage and to their third lowest scoring output of the season. Slippery Rock, which scored 25 points off of Gannon's turnovers while committing just eight miscues of its own, is now 13-2 on the season when holding opponents under 70 points.
Another key to The Rock's win was a perimeter offense that converted 10-of-22 3-point attempts. The 10 triples were tied for the most made in a game this season.
Leading the way for Slippery Rock was
Lexi Carpenter, who came off the bench to produce 23 points, four rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Carpenter went 7-for-15 from the field overall as well as being a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 at the foul line.
Playing in their final home games,
Megan Hardiman and
Erica Aiello both provided Slippery Rock with solid performances. Hardiman scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds while Aiello passed out a game-high seven assists.
Ciara Patterson was The Rock's third player in double figures with 11 points to go with three steals on defense.
Sorriyah Ranger and
Mallory Heinle rounded out Slippery Rock's top performers; Ranger pulled in seven rebounds while Heinle scored six points.
Rebecca Olkosky set the tone for the game early on by hitting a 3-pointer 25 seconds into the game to start a 12-6 Rock run. Slippery Rock went on to extend its lead to 12 points at 23-11 through 10 minutes of play.
Gannon answered back with a 12-0 run in the second quarter that tied the game, 23-23. SRU's relentless attack fired back with a 14-2 run of its own over the remainder of the quarter that was capped off by a corner 3-pointer from Patterson with seconds left in the half to give The Rock a 37-25 lead at the break.
Slippery Rock stretched its lead out to 18 points with 3:35 left in the third quarter, but proceeded to score just two points over the next 6:51, letting Gannon trim SRU's lead all the way down to 51-48 with 6:44 remaining in regulation. However, Gannon was unable to cut into SRU's lead any further as Carpenter closed out the game with seven timely points en route to the crucial win.
For the game, Slippery Rock held edges over Gannon in assists (13-8), steals (6-1), second chance points (10-7) and bench scoring (42-10).
Morgan Neighbors scored 23 points to pace the Gannon attack. Jennie Thies added a double-double of 10 points and 17 rebounds.
Slippery Rock and Pitt-Johnstown are set for a 5:30 p.m. start Wednesday in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
