LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team won its fourth game in its last five contests with a thorough 84-63 victory at Lock Haven University Saturday afternoon.
 
The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover win improves The Rock's record to 4-3 on the season overall and 3-0 in conference competition. Lock Haven drops to 1-5 overall and 0-3 in the PSAC with the loss.  

Slippery Rock has now started PSAC play 3-0 for the first time since the 1995-96 season. All four of The Rock's win this season have come by no fewer than 14 points.
 
SRU led for 34:02 of a possible 40 minutes Saturday. Spurring Slippery Rock to the win was a tenacious defensive effort that resulted in Lock Haven shooting just 24.6 percent (15-for-61) from the field and committing 24 turnovers. The Bald Eagles went just 10-for-49 over the final three quarters.
 
Reigning PSAC West Athlete of the Week Brooke Hinderliter had another strong performance for The Rock, scoring a game-high 27 points to go with five rebounds, four of which came on the offensive glass, two assists and one steal. Hinderliter went 9-for-15 from the field overall, 2-for-3 from 3-point territory and a perfect 7-for-7 from the foul line.
 
Morgan Henderson provided The Rock with one of her best games of the season. The junior forward scored 13 points, grabbed five rebounds, blocked one shot and came away with one steal.
 
Ciara Patterson also finished in double figures with 11 points. Defensively, Patterson made a game-best three steals. LeeAnn Gibson made her third start of the season, finishing with six points, six rebounds, one block and one steal. Four of Gibson's six rebounds were of the offensive variety.
 
Slippery Rock also received several strong performances from its reserves.
 
Sierra Fordham scored nine points and passed out a team-high four assists. Mallory Heinle went for eight points, five rebounds and a career-best three blocks. Krista Pietropola added five rebounds and two blocks while Skyla O'Connor corralled five rebounds of her own and matched Patterson for a game-best three steals. Finally, the rookie duo Kaylee Young and AuJanae Givner each scored the first points of their collegiate careers.
 
Slippery Rock trailed Lock Haven 8-5 through the opening five minutes of the game, but closed the first quarter on a 16-8 run to take a 21-16 advantage into the second. Henderson had six points over the spurt to pace The Rock.
 
The second quarter belonged to SRU as The Rock outscored the Bald Eagles 23-13 to increase its lead to 44-29 at the halftime break. Heinle capped off the half in fine fashion for SRU by driving the length of the floor and converting a layup in period's final seconds. The 44 points represented the most points scored by SRU in the first half of game this season.
 
Slippery Rock made 47.4 percent (9-for-19) of its shots in the second quarter while holding LHU to just 27.3 percent (3-for-11) from the field in the second 10 minutes of play. Hinderliter scored 12 points in the first half while Henderson matched her previous season-high with nine. Heinle and Fordham came off the bench to provide SRU with 8 points and four assists, respectively.
 
SRU continued to control the game in the second half as it stretched its lead out to 18 points at 65-47 through three quarters en route to the eventual 21-point victory.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock shot 35.1 percent (26-for-74) from the field overall, 21.7 percent (5-for-23) from 3-point range and 81.8 percent (27-for-33) from the foul line. SRU matched its season-high with 19 offensive rebounds and committed just 13 turnovers, its second lowest total of the year.
 
SRU concluded the contest with edges over Lock Haven in blocks (7-2), steals (12-4), points off turnovers (30-11), points in the paint (26-12), fast break points (8-2) and bench scoring (25-22).
 
Rileigh Devine scored 20 points and Maimuna Kenneh pulled in 10 rebounds to lead Lock Haven. The Bald Eagles held advantages over The Rock in total rebounds (53-45) and second chance points (20-13).
 
Slippery Rock will look to make it a perfect weekend with a victory at Bloomsburg University 1 p.m. Sunday.


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