WEST LIBERTY, W. Va. – Brooke Hinderliter scored a career-high 29 points to lead the Slippery Rock University women's basketball team to an 89-74 victory on the road at West Liberty University Wednesday afternoon.
 
The non-conference victory, SRU's third straight win, improves The Rock's record to 3-2 on the year overall. West Liberty falls to 2-4 with the loss. Slippery Rock is one win away from matching its longest winning streak over the last 16 years.
 
Though Slippery Rock trailed for just under a total of five minutes, Wednesday's contest was relatively close for the first three quarters until Slippery Rock outscored the Hilltoppers 26-13 in the fourth to close out the road victory.
 
Hinderliter missed just two shots all game by going 12-for-14 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line on the way to her career-high scoring total. She also grabbed six rebounds and passed out four assists while committing just one turnover.
 
Coming off of her worst game of the season in The Rock's win against Kutztown on Nov. 19, Ciara Patterson returned to form with 21 points, eight rebounds and one steal over 38 minutes of playing time. All of Patterson's points came in the final three quarters of play.
 
Madison Johnson was The Rock's third player in double figures with 12 points. Fellow starter Morgan Henderson fought through foul trouble for much of the game to finish with nine points and three rebounds.
 
The reserve trio of Krista Pietropola, Skyla O'Connor and LeeAnn Gibson rounded out The Rock's top performers against West Liberty. Pietropola had nine rebounds to go with four points, O'Connor picked up two steals and Gibson went for six points and six rebounds.
 
West Liberty jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on The Rock to start the game, but SRU proceeded to finish the quarter on a 16-10 run to head into the second quarter tied with the host Hilltoppers 16-16. Johnson and Hinderliter scored five points apiece in the opening 10 minutes.
 
After trading baskets to start the second quarter Slippery Rock went on to outscore West Liberty 23-16 through the final eight minutes of the quarter to take a six-point lead at 43-37 into the halftime break. SRU scored 27 points in the second quarter, the most points scored by The Rock in a quarter this season.
 
Slippery Rock stretched its lead out to as many as 10 points in the third quarter, but WLU ended the period on an 11-2 run to cut The Rock's deficit down to just two points at 63-61 heading into the final 10 minutes of regulation.
 
However, any thoughts of a comeback victory would be put to rest by The Rock in the fourth quarter as SRU controlled the period as it doubled WLU in scoring, 26-13, en route to a 15-point victory.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock shot a season-best 47.3 percent (35-for-74) from the field and 88.2 percent (15-for-17) from the free throw line while committing just nine turnovers, its lowest total in a single-game in the last two seasons.
 
Slippery Rock also held advantages over West Liberty in total rebounds (46-33), offensive rebounds (13-9), points off turnovers (14-4) and bench scoring (18-7).
 
Marissa Brown had 28 points and seven rebounds to lead West Liberty in the losing effort. The Rock held the Hilltoppers to a field goal percentage of just 38.3 percent (23-for-60).
 
Slippery Rock will go for its fourth straight win when it hosts Walsh University 1 p.m. Saturday at Morrow Field House.


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