CLARION, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team lost on the road at Clarion University, 63-60, Friday night in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division game that featured 20 lead changes.
 
As the 20 lead changes would indicate, the game was a back-and-forth contest for all 40 minutes between the evenly-matched Slippery Rock (3-9, 1-5 PSAC) and Clarion (3-9, 1-5 PSAC) squads and with 32 seconds to play in regulation the contest was tied at 59-59.
 
However, the tie would be as close as SRU would get as Clarion, which entered the game ranked last in the nation in free throw shooting percentage, was able to make all four of its foul shots in the game's closing moments while a game-tying attempt for The Rock at the buzzer was off, giving the Golden Eagles the victory.
 
Madison Johnson carried The Rock's offense for much of the game. The redshirt senior guard finished the night with a game-high 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds, one assist and one steal.
 
Daeja Quick sparked Slippery Rock's offense early on the way to a 19-point effort that included four assists and a pair of steals. LeeAnn Gibson just missed out on a double-double with nine points and 11 rebounds.
 
Brooke Hinderliter was hampered by foul trouble for much of the night and scored just eight points while Karington Ketterer rounded out The Rock's scorers with two points all the while grabbing five rebounds.
 
Off the bench, backup post Anyah Curd had five rebounds and reserve guard Olivia Fusaro blocked one shot.
 
Slippery Rock jumped out to an 18-13 lead through the opening 10 minutes thanks in no small part to Quick, who connected on three 3-pointers in the first quarter. Clarion kept the game close in the opening period thanks to numerous offensive rebounds that resulted in second chance scoring opportunities.
 
The Golden Eagles controlled the start of the second quarter with six unanswered points to take a 19-18 lead and force a Rock timeout with 7:36 to play in the first half. Both teams traded points for the remainder of the second quarter coming out of the timeout as The Rock and Golden Eagles headed into halftime tied at 31-31.
 
Slippery Rock shot 48.1 percent from the field in the first half, but Clarion stayed in the contest with 11 offensive rebounds and a +8 rebounding margin (23-15) overall. Quick finished the first 20 minutes with 12 points.
 
Johnson kept SRU in the game in the third quarter by scoring 11 of The Rock's first 13 points coming out of the break to bring Slippery Rock to within one point of Clarion at 45-44 entering the fourth quarter.
 
SRU stayed within five points of Clarion for the entirety of the fourth quarter, but could never quite manage to get past the Golden Eagles as Clarion hung on to escape with a three-point home victory.
 
Slippery Rock had a final chance to send the game to overtime, but a 3-pointer by Hinderliter with three seconds to play rimmed out as time expired.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock shot 43.9 percent (25-of-57) from the field overall, 29.4 percent (5-of-17) from 3-point range and 62.5 percent (5-of-8) at the foul line. The Rock's eight free throw attempts was a season-low and tied for the program's lowest total dating back 100 games to the 2015-16 season.
 
The Rock's rebounding picked up in the second half as both teams ended the game with 38 total rebounds. Slippery Rock also held a 32-14 lead in points in the paint over the Golden Eagles.
 
Clarion shot just 33.9 percent (19-of-56) from the field overall, but nine of its 19 made field goals were 3-pointers. CU also forced SRU into 18 turnovers while committing just 12 miscues of its own. The Golden Eagles turned 16 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points.
 
Olivia Boocks came off the bench to make five 3-pointers en route to a 17-point performance. Yasmin Lewis added a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds for Clarion as well.
 
Slippery Rock continues its stretch of four games in eight days when it returns home to host Cal U 5:30 p.m. Jan. 6 at Morrow Field House.



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