MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team parlayed a dominating fourth-quarter performance into an 85-72 victory at Millersville University Saturday in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover action.
 
Slippery Rock entered the fourth quarter trailing Millersville by four points, but easily overcame the deficit by outscoring the Marauders 31-14 in the final quarter to secure the road victory.

Slippery Rock was 8-for-13 from the field and 12-for-13 from the foul line in the fourth while forcing Millersville to go just 4-for-14. The 31 points are tied for the most points scored in a quarter by The Rock this season.
 
The win, SRU's second in its last three games, improves The Rock's record to 5-4 overall and 4-1 in league games. Millersville falls to 3-5 overall and 1-4 in conference competition.
 
Ciara Patterson had arguably her best game of the season to lead Slippery Rock to the win. She scored 28 points on an efficient 7-for-8 shooting performance. Included in Patterson's shooting total was a 5-for-6 effort from 3-point territory. She also made all nine of her free throw attempts while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists. Patterson has scored at least 21 points in three of The Rock's last five games.
 
Morgan Henderson continued her string of strong play as of late with 16 points, three rebounds, one block and one steal. Henderson, who has reached double figures in three straight games, was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field overall, 1-for-1 from deep and 5-for-6 at the foul line. The junior forward spurred The Rock along in the fourth quarter with 13 crucial points in the final 10 minutes.
 
Brooke Hinderliter and Madison Johnson each came one rebound shy of a double-double. Hinderliter went for 15 points, nine rebounds, five assists and one block while Johnson tallied 11 points, nine rebounds and two steals.
 
Krista Pietropola, who made her first start of the season, was The Rock's fifth player in double figures Saturday. She scored 12 points while also compiling five rebounds and two steals over 27 minutes.
 
The Marauders jumped out to an early 10-2 advantage and stretched their lead out to as many as 11 points at 25-14 with 7:41 to play in the second quarter. Millersville connected on four 3-pointers and benefited from 12 Rock turnovers through the first 12 minutes of Saturday's contest.
 
Despite the early miscues Slippery Rock persevered and was able to control the remainder of the first half, outscoring Millersville 21-15 to cut the Marauders' lead down to just four points heading into halftime.
 
Patterson scored 16 points in the opening 20 minutes for The Rock, 11 of which came over the final seven minutes of the second quarter. She capped off her excellent half by making three free throws after being fouled on a desperation shot from half court with under one second left in the half.
 
SRU scored seven of the first nine points in the third quarter to take a 43-42 lead, its first of the game. The Rock and Marauders proceeded to trade baskets until Millersville ended the quarter on a 10-6 run to take a 58-54 lead into the final quarter.
 
The fourth quarter belonged to The Rock as SRU outscored the home Marauders 31-14 in the final 10 minutes on the way to a convincing 85-72 victory. Henderson set the tone for the quarter by scoring six straight points to give SRU a 60-58 lead it would never relinquish.
 
With Patterson forced to play limited minutes in the final quarter due to foul trouble, Henderson shouldered the offensive load down the stretch with 13 points. Defensively, SRU held Millersville to just three points over the final 3:14 of regulation en route to the win.
 
Slippery Rock shot 51 percent (26-for-51) from the field against Millersville, which is SRU's best shooting performance in the last 61 games; Slippery Rock shot 56.4 percent from the field in a win against Mansfield on Nov. 21, 2015. SRU also connected on 47.4 percent (9-for-19) of its 3-point attempts and 85.7 percent (24-for-28) of its foul shots.
 
SRU held advantages over Millersville in rebounds (40-34), blocks (4-1), fast break points (8-4) and bench scoring (18-6). The Rock held Millersville to a 36.8 percent (25-for-68) showing from the field overall and a 28.6 percent (6-for-21) mark from deep.
 
Alaya Hall and Kendra Bamberger scored 19 points apiece to pace Millersville in the loss.
 
Slippery Rock will break for fall semester final exams for a week before returning to action at home 5 p.m. Dec. 19 with a non-conference game against West Virginia Wesleyan College.


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).