SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team earned its second win in as many games with a 74-64 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division victory against Clarion University Saturday at Morrow Field House.
 
The win improves Slippery Rock's record to 12-12 on the season overall and 10-9 in the PSAC West. The 10 league victories are the most in program history. Clarion drops to 7-17 overall and 2-16 in the PSAC West with the loss.
 
With three contests remaining in the regular season, Slippery Rock controls its own destiny on the path to a PSAC Tournament berth. SRU is 2.5 games ahead of Mercyhurst (7-11) for sixth place in the PSAC West standings and only a half-game behind Gannon (10-8) for fifth place.
 
The top six teams in the division at the end of the season qualify for the conference tournament. Slippery Rock is on pace to qualify for the PSAC Tournament for the first time since the 2014-15 season and just the second time in the last 12 years.
 
Four players scored in double figures for Slippery Rock on Saturday with Morgan Henderson leading the way via a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds. She went 7-for-13 from the field overall, 1-for-2 from 3-point range and 4-for-5 at the foul line. Henderson, who matched a team season-high with six offensive rebounds, also came away with a pair of steals and three assists.
 
Brooke Hinderliter was an efficient 6-for-9 from the floor and a perfect 2-for-2 at the free throw line on the way to a 14-point performance. Defensively, Hinderliter matched a career-high with four steals.  
 
LeeAnn Gibson continued her recent scoring surge with 10 points to go with seven rebounds in a near double-double performance. Gibson has scored at least 10 points in six of SRU's last eight games. Skyla O'Connor came off the bench to go for 10 points, two shy of her season-best.
 
Mallory Heinle had eight rebounds and two blocks, Krista Pietropola pulled down six rebounds and Madison Johnson scored nine points to round out The Rock's top performers.  
 
Clarion played The Rock tight in the first quarter and more than doubled SRU in the fourth, but Slippery Rock completely dominated the middle portion of Saturday's game en route to a comfortable 10-point victory.  
 
With the game tied at 24-24 five minutes into the second quarter, Slippery Rock took off on a pivotal 20-6 run through the remainder of the first half to take a commanding 44-30 lead into the break. Henderson accounted for seven of The Rock's points during the spurt with Pietropola adding five more as well.
 
Clarion briefly cut The Rock's lead down to just nine points, 44-35, early in the third quarter, but SRU was once again able to close the quarter strong by scoring 20 of the period's final 27 points to stretch its lead out to 22 points heading into the fourth quarter. Henderson followed her solid second quarter with eight more points in the third period.
 
The Golden Eagles controlled the fourth quarter, but never truly threatened Slippery Rock's lead as SRU cruised to the double-digit triumph, its eighth such of the year. Clarion shot just 7-of-32 and committed 11 turnovers in the second and third quarters.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock made 28-of-64 field goal attempts (43.8 percent) and 13-of-17 free throws (76.5 percent). The Rock committed just 13 turnovers while forcing Clarion into 17 miscues. SRU also held advantages over the Golden Eagles in points off turnovers (21-13), points in the paint (40-20), second chance points (12-7) and fast break points (14-2).
 
Amesha Harden-Pullium paced the Clarion attack with 21 points and Taylor Moltz added 17 points as well in the loss. Clarion finished the game shooting 34.4 percent (21-for-61) from the field, 40.9 percent (9-for-22) from deep and 76.5 percent (13-for-17) at the foul line. The Golden Eagles did hold a slight 40-39 advantage over The Rock in rebounding.
 
Slippery Rock will look to push its winning streak to three games with an upset victory at No. 13 Edinboro University 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.
 


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