ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team lost at Mercyhurst University, 80-56, Saturday in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division contest.
 
The loss drops The Rock's record to 6-6 overall and 4-2 in league games. With the victory, Mercyhurst increased its winning streak to five games while improving its record to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in the PSAC West.
 
Slippery Rock led for nearly the entire first half, but the Lakers turned the game around by closing out the final five minutes of the first half on a 15-7 run to take a 34-29 lead into halftime.
 
SRU was unable to find a rhythm coming out of the break as Mercyhurst broke the game apart by scoring 17 of the first 21 points of the third quarter to open up a 51-33 edge it would never come close to relinquishing on the way to the 24-point victory.
 
Brooke Hinderliter led all Rock players with 19 points to go with seven rebounds. Skyla O'Connor came off the bench to score eight points and make two steals while Ciara Patterson and Daeja Quick rounded out SRU's top scorers with seven points apiece.
 
Morgan Henderson pushed her streak of double-digit rebounding games to four with 10 rebounds on Saturday in addition to scoring five points and blocking a pair of shots. LeeAnn Gibson also added to The Rock's total on the glass with a season-best six rebounds.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock shot just 27.1 percent (16-for-59) from the field overall. SRU did have a great outing from the free throw line as it made 22 of 29 attempts (75.9 percent). SRU held advantages over the Lakers in total rebounds (41-39), offensive rebounds (17-11), forced turnovers (14-13) and second chance points (21-4).
 
Mercyhurst converted 45.9 percent (28-for-61) of its field goal attempts including eight 3-pointers. The Lakers were led by Amber Renz, who came off the bench to score a game-high 29 points, grab seven rebounds and make one steal.
 
Slippery Rock will now face a pair of nationally ranked teams in back-to-back games starting with No. 12 California University (Pa.) on the road 5:30 p.m. Jan. 9 followed by a home contest 1 p.m. Jan. 12 at Morrow Field House against No. 2 Indiana University (Pa.).
 

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