ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team cut a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit down to just three points with four minutes to play, but Gannon University was able to fend off The Rock's comeback and pull away down the stretch to earn a 60-50 win Saturday at the Hammermill Center in Erie, Pennsylvania.
 
Slippery Rock closes the regular season with a 12-15 overall record and a 10-12 mark in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division competition. SRU will enter the PSAC Tournament as the sixth seed out of the PSAC West and play third-seeded California (Pa.) 7 p.m. Monday in first round action.
 
Gannon will head into the PSAC Tournament as the fifth seed in the West with an overall record of 16-12 and a league mark of 13-9. The Lady Knights will play at Seton Hill in their first round game on Monday.
 
Slippery Rock held a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter and took a 30-26 advantage into the halftime break, but Gannon controlled the third quarter by outscoring Slippery Rock 21-4 over the 10-minute stretch to open up a 47-34 edge of its own going into the final period of play.
 
Despite the rough third quarter, Slippery Rock persevered and procced to start to cut into the Lady Knights' lead in the fourth quarter with a dominating 12-2 run that trimmed Gannon's lead down to just 49-46 with four minutes left in regulation.
 
SRU's comeback bid was spurred on by a defensive effort that saw The Rock hold Gannon without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes and a balanced offensive attack which featured four different players scoring during the run including Morgan Henderson, who accounted five of the 12 points.
 
However, Slippery Rock was unable to dig any further into Gannon's lead as SRU made just two of its final six shots while the Lady Knights converted 5-of-6 free throws and 3-of-4 field goals in the game's final moments to escape with the home victory.
  
Henderson produced a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead The Rock's attack. Included in Henderson's 19 points, which matched her previous career-high, were three successful 3-point attempts, her second highest 3-point total of the season.
 
The trio of Madison Johnson, Sierra Fordham and Brooke Hinderliter all chipped in six points as well with Hinderliter also grabbing six rebounds. Johnson was an efficient 3-for-5 from the field. Krista Pietropola had six rebounds and one block while LeeAnn Gibson grabbed five rebounds to round out The Rock's top performers.
 
Slippery Rock held Gannon, one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the PSAC, to just four made triples on 19 attempts and to a mere 33.3 field goal percentage overall as well as edging the Lady Knights in rebounds (38-37), but 18 total turnovers and a third quarter in which The Rock scored just four points was ultimately too much to overcome.  

Gannon was led by Chelsea Rourke, who had 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists. 
 
SRU will now shift its focus to its PSAC Tournament game against California, which was ranked 24th in the nation in the most recent Women's Basketball Coaches Association top-25 poll. After qualifying for the PSAC Tournament just once from 2002-14, Slippery Rock has now made the postseason twice in the last four years under head coach Bobby McGraw.
 
 
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