SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women basketball withstood a late charge by West Chester University to earn a 72-69 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference victory at Morrow Field House Saturday.
 
The win, SRU's second in a row, improves The Rock's record to 4-4 on the year overall and a perfect 2-0 in league games. With the loss, West Chester drops to 4-6 overall and 0-3 in the PSAC.
 
Slippery Rock led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter, but by the 1:52 mark in the third period the early advantage had completely disappeared and the Golden Rams had taken a 48-47 lead. West Chester went on to stretch its least out to four points, 63-59, with 5:31 left to play in regulation before Slippery Rock started its rally.
 
Over the following three minutes, SRU outscored West Chester 9-3 to jump out to a 68-66 lead thanks to 3-pointers by Ciara Patterson and Brooke Hinderliter as well as three points from Daeja Quick, which came by way of a layup and the accompanying successful foul shot.
 
West Chester managed to cut The Rock's lead to one point on two occasions over the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, but was unable to ever regain the advantage as Patterson made four free throws down the stretch to close out the 72-69 victory.
 
Patterson ended the game with 18 points, 10 of which came in the fourth quarter, in 36 minutes. Fresh off of a career-high 33 points in The Rock's victory at East Stroudsburg, Hinderliter remained hot with 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field to go with nine rebounds and three steals.
 
Quick was the third Rock player in double figures with 12 points along with six rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. Morgan Henderson and Madison Johnson each scored seven points apiece to round out The Rock's top performers with Henderson also grabbing eight rebounds and making two steals. Johnson was an efficient 3-for-4 from the field and 1-for-1 from 3-point range off the bench.
 
Slippery Rock, which entered the game with a -14.3 rebounding margin in 2018-19, grabbed 38 rebounds to West Chester's 35 on Saturday. SRU pulled down a season-best 13 offensive rebounds as Henderson and Hinderliter had four each to lead the charge on the offensive glass.
 
SRU had a solid shooting night, finishing the game 26-for-59 (44.1 percent) from the field overall, and a stellar 13-for-16 (81.3 percent) from the foul line. The Rock was able to overcome 28 West Chester free throw attempts and an uncharacteristically high 21 turnovers by forcing 18 turnovers of their own and limiting WCU to a shooting percentage of just 35.1 percent from the floor.
 
Destiny Jefferson and had 22 points and Madiston Torresin collected 10 rebounds to lead WCU in the losing effort.
 
Slippery Rock has thrived recently in crossover games against PSAC East teams under head coach Bobby McGraw. Following the West Chester win, SRU is now 15-5 (.750) against their PSAC East counterparts over the last four years.
 
Saturday's game began a five-game homestand for Slippery Rock that will continue 5 p.m. Dec. 17 against Salem University.
 
 
 
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