SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team stretched its winning streak to five games with an 86-82 victory over Fairmont State University Sunday at Morrow Field House.
 
The win improves The Rock's overall record to 5-1 while the Fighting Falcons suffer their first loss to move them to 4-1 overall. SRU played a perfect 2-0 week marking just the second time since 1999-00 (24 seasons) that it held a 5-1 record through its first six games.
 
Sunday's win was a true team victory as SRU was tasked with playing without scoring leaders Deleah Gibson and Isabellah Middleton for the final minutes of regulation due to foul trouble.
 
Despite not playing the tail end of the fourth quarter, the duo of Gibson (28 points) and Isabellah Middleton (24 points) combined for 60 percent (52-of-68) of The Rock's scoring.
 
Isabellah Middleton finished the game adding 11 rebounds to her stat line for a double-double in addition to having three steals, two blocks and one assist.
 
Gibson ended the contest with four rebounds, two steals, two blocks and one assist. Additionally, Gibson set a new Morrow Field House program record for made free throws as she went 14-of-15.
 
Kennedy Middleton also finished in double figures as she tallied her fifth consecutive double-double by way of 12 points and 11 rebounds in addition to dishing out a team-high seven assists.
 
Fellow starter Emily Venick provided The Rock with quality minutes finishing the day with five points, three steals and two assists in addition to making 3-of-4 free throw attempts in just 25 seconds to help seal The Rock's win.
 
Reserves Jordan Kauffman and Jada Ward posted solid performances off the bench each tallying five points apiece.
 
Rounding out SRU scorers were Kaylin Venick (3 points), Kristina Donza (2 points) and Arianna Mitchell (2 points).
 
Slippery Rock opened the contest on a 6-0 run before battling Fairmont State bucket-for-bucket throughout the remainder of the quarter. SRU never trailed in the first 10 minutes and held just a one-point (18-17) lead heading into the second.
 
The second quarter featured SRU and FSU trading one-point leads six times in the first four minutes, before a 9-0 run by The Rock gave them their largest lead of the first half (31-23) with 4:04 left to play in the second quarter. Slippery Rock and Fairmont State were content to trade baskets once more heading into halftime with SRU leading 39-34.
 
Coming out of the break, the Fighting Falcons battled The Rock to yet another close quarter with SRU slightly outscoring FSU (19-18) to take a 58-52 advantage into the final 10 minutes. Isabellah Middleton spearheaded the charge by opening the quarter on a solo eight-point run.
 
Slippery Rock jumped out to its largest lead of the game (65-52) courtesy of a 7-0 run in the first two minutes of the final quarter. Fairmont State began its upset bid over the remaining seven minutes of regulation, cutting the SRU lead to as little as three points (80-83 at 0:28 / 82-85 at 0:13).
 
However, The Rock went 6-of-9 from the foul line to close out the final minute of the contest and secure their 86-82 win.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock shot 40.8 percent (29-of-71) from the floor, 7.7 percent (1-for-13) from long range and 79.4 percent (27-of-34) from the foul line.
 
The Rock held advantages over Fairmont State in rebounds (47-43), points in the paint (46-40) and second chance points (20-16). Both teams struggled with turnovers as each made 22.
 
The Fighting Falcons ended the game shooting 38.1 percent (24-of-63) from the floor, 25 percent (4-of-16) from 3-point range and 73.2 (30-of-41) from the charity stripe. Katy Darnell led all scorers with a game-high 31 points to go along with seven rebounds.
 
Slippery Rock begins its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover contests with a pair of road games at Shepherd 5:30 p.m. Dec. 2 and Shippensburg 5:30 p.m. Dec. 3.










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