SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team held Pitt-Johnstown to a 22.1 field goal percentage on the way to a 63-50 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division victory Wednesday at Morrow Field House.
 
The win improved The Rock's record to 7-17 overall and 5-13 in the PSAC while Pitt-Johnstown drops to 13-11 overall and 8-10 in league games with the loss.
 
Slippery Rock was able to limit Pitt-Johnstown to a season-low point total. The Mountain Cats made just nine of their first 53 field goal attempts (16.9 percent) over the opening three quarters before connecting on 40 percent of their shots in the final 10 minutes.
 
The Rock's entire senior class played a hand in Wednesday's win, which moved Slippery Rock to within 2.5 games of Seton Hill University for sixth place in the PSAC West standings with four games to remaining in the regular season. The top six teams in both the PSAC West and PSAC East standings qualify for the conference tournament.
 
Madison Johnson led the way with a great all-around game in which she scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds and passed out a career-high seven assists while also blocking one shot. Johnson's big night vaulted her into 23rd place at Slippery Rock for points in a career with 826.
 
Brooke Hinderliter and LeeAnn Gibson each racked up double-doubles with Hinderliter going for 16 points and 11 rebounds and Gibson tallying 10 points and 14 rebounds. Gibson has now produced double-doubles in each of The Rock's last three games.
 
In the process of securing her sixth double-double of the season, Gibson became just the 17th player in program history to record 500 points and 500 rebounds in a career. She currently ranks 17th at SRU all-time with 509 rebounds.
 
Karington Ketterer rounded out SRU's senior quartet by blocking three shots and grabbing four rebounds to go with four points. Ketterer has blocked nine shots over Slippery Rock's last three games.
 
Daeja Quick chipped in seven points while Carol Weber came off the bench to contribute three points, one rebound and one steal in six minutes of playing time to round out The Rock's top leaders.
 
Pitt-Johnstown jumped out to an early three-point lead over the game's first four minutes, but Slippery Rock was able to close the first quarter on a 15-6 run to take a 17-11 advantage into the second quarter. The Rock's spurt was sparked by 11 points from a hot-shooting Johnson.
 
SRU's lead was never truly threatened over the final three quarters as Slippery Rock proceeded to take a nine-point edge into the halftime break before growing its lead to as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter on the way to the eventual 13-point win.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock shot 39.3 percent (24-for-61) from the field overall and 65 percent (13-for-20) from the free throw line while holding a 50-46 advantage over the Mountain Cats in rebounding. SRU also did a great job valuing possession Wednesday as it committed just 11 turnovers.
 
Pitt-Johnstown was led in the loss by Gabrielle Smith, who finished the game with 10 points and six rebounds. While they could never quite find their rhythm from the field, the Mountain Cats stayed in the game by converting 72.7 percent (16-for-22) of its free throws and making just 12 turnovers.
 
Slippery Rock will close out its two-game homestand when it hosts Seton Hill 1 p.m. Saturday at Morrow Field House in what will be a critical PSAC West contest.
 


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