ETTRICK, Va. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team lost its season-opener to Virginia State University, 82-55, Friday night on day one of the PSAC-CIAA Challenge in Ettrick, Virginia.
 
Slippery Rock received strong performances from the trio of redshirt junior guard Ciara Patterson, senior forward Mallory Heinle and redshirt sophomore guard Madison Johnson.
 
Playing in her first game in over a year, Patterson went for 14 points, four rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal in 36 minutes of action. A reliable component of the SRU attack for the last three years, Heinle started her senior year off in fine fashion with a 13-point, six-rebound, one-block performance. Johnson, who was playing in her first game for Slippery Rock after beginning her career at St. Francis University, added 12 points, four rebounds and four steals.
 
Senior guard Krista Pietropola came off the bench to give The Rock seven points and three rebounds while sophomore guard Brooke Hinderliter rounded out The Rock's top performers with four points, five rebounds and two steals.
 
Virginia State jumped out to a commanding 13-2 lead through the opening four minutes of the first quarter, but Slippery Rock ended the quarter, and started the second period, by scoring 16 of the next 25 points to cut the Trojans' lead down to just 22-18 with 7:57 remaining in the opening half. Johnson scored seven points over the run.
 
However, Virginia State concluded the opening half by holding The Rock to just five points over the final five minute of the second quarter while scoring 17 points of its own to take a 12-point advantage (39-27) into the halftime break.
 
Slippery Rock was never able to overcome Virginia State's halftime lead as the Trojans stretched its advantage out to as many as 28 points in the second half en route to the 82-55 victory.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock shot 27.5 percent (19-for-69) from the field overall, 17.2 percent (5-for-29) from long range and 63.2 percent (12-for-19) from the foul line. Defensively, SRU forced Virginia State into 18 turnovers.
 
Seton Hill University transfer Chirsanna Green led the Trojans with 18 rebounds while Alexis Smith scored a game-best 18 points.
 
As a team, the Trojans shot 42.2 percent (27-for-64) from the field overall, 33.3 percent (11-for-33) from 3-point range and 63 percent (17-for-27) from the free throw line. Virginia State held advantages over The Rock in rebounds (51-40), points off turnovers (16-14) and bench points (24-10).
 
Slippery Rock will look to bounce back from its season-opening defeat with a victory against Lincoln University Saturday on day two of the CIAA-PSAC Challenge. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 

To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics), Instagram (RockAthletics) and Snapchat (@RockAthletics).