GREENSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team had its two-game winning streak snapped in an 85-78 loss at Seton Hill University Saturday in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division competition.
 
The loss drops The Rock's record to 6-5 on the season overall and 4-2 in league games. Seton Hill improves to 9-3 overall and 4-2 in the PSAC West with the victory.
 
Four players finished in double figures for The Rock with Brooke Hinderliter leading the way via a 20-point performance that also included nine rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. Hinderliter went 10-for-16 from the field over 35 minutes.
 
Morgan Henderson fought through early foul trouble to add a near career-best 18 points, five rebounds and one block as well. Madison Johnson just missed out on a double-double with 14 points and eight rebounds. Ciara Patterson was The Rock's fourth leading scorer at 13 points. She also pulled in five rebounds.
 
LeeAnn Gibson and Mallory Heinle rounded out Slippery Rock's top performers. Gibson, who was making her seventh start of the season, chipped in seven points and four rebounds. Heinle produced four points, seven rebounds, a career-high matching three blocks, one steal and one assist.
 
Slippery Rock and Seton Hill played even for the majority of the first half. SRU jumped out to an early 10-5 lead and eventually took a 19-17 advantage into the second quarter. The Rock and Griffins traded baskets for the bulk of the second period before SHU closed out the half on a 9-6 run to take a 36-34 lead into the break.
 
Seton Hill extended its lead to 45-40 in the third quarter, but The Rock countered with an 11-3 run that was capped off by a Patterson 3-pointer to give SRU a 51-48 lead, and force a Seton Hill timeout, with 3:05 remaining in the period. Both teams continued to trade baskets through the remainder of the quarter resulting in a 59-59 tie heading into the fourth period. Henderson and Hinderliter scored eight points apiece for The Rock in the third.
 
The turning point in the game happened 90 seconds into the fourth quarter when Cheyenne Trest made 5-of-6 free throws to give Seton Hill a 66-59 lead following a shooting foul that was then accompanied by two Rock technical fouls. After the six free throw opportunities, Seton Hill went on to stretch its lead out to as many as 12 points only to see Slippery Rock trim its deficit to as little as five points with 33 seconds to play.

However, Slippery Rock was unable to complete its comeback as SHU held on for a seven-point home victory.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock shot 47 percent (31-for-66) from the field and 76.5 percent (13-for-17) from the free throw line. Slippery Rock held advantages over the Griffins in rebounding (42-40), assists (11-10), blocks (6-3), points off turnovers (11-10) and points in the paint (50-24).
 
The Griffins shot just 36.9 percent (24-for-65) from the field overall, but made eight 3-pointers and benefited greatly by being awarded 39 free throws, 29 of which were successful. Seton Hill shot 22 more free throws than The Rock on Saturday. SHU also forced The Rock into 18 turnovers while committing just 11 miscues of its own.
 
Trest and Alex Hay combined to score 61 of Seton Hill's 85 points with 35 and 26 points, respectively.
 
Slippery Rock will begin a two-game homestand 5 p.m. Jan. 3 against Mercyhurst University at Morrow Field House.


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).