SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team earned its first 4-0 home record since 2015-16 with a dominant second-half performance that led to a 62-46 win over Bloomsburg University Monday at Morrow Field House.
 
The win moves The Rock's overall record to 8-2 and its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference mark to 3-1 while Bloomsburg falls to 2-6 overall and 0-4 in the conference. Monday's 16-point win is tied for The Rock's largest victory of the year, SRU also beat Shepherd by 16 points (73-57) earlier in the season.
 
The Slippery Rock offense was paced by Isabellah Middleton and Kennedy Middleton who accounted for 67.7 percent (42-of-62) of SRU's points scored with 22 and 20 respectively. Isabellah Middleton ended the night with nine rebounds, three steals and one assist while Kennedy Middleton tallied six rebounds, four assists and one steal.
 
Kelley McKnight, in her 10th start of the season, had a career-high nine rebounds to go along with two points, one assist and one block.
 
Bella Long came off the bench to go for six points and one assist while fellow reserve Alyssa Gillin had four points, two rebounds and one assist. Jada Ward dished out two assists to go along with four points and one steal.
 
Rounding out Slippery Rock's contributors in the win were Arianna Mitchell (2 points, 6 rebounds), Kaylin Venick (2 points) and Emily Venick (2 steals, 1 assist).
 
The two teams traded baskets for the opening 10 minutes resulting in a 10-10 tie heading into the second quarter. Over the second, Bloomsburg used an impressive 16-4 run to take a 12-point lead (26-14) with 4:35 remaining in the quarter.
 
However, SRU foreshadowed what was to come over the second half as it finished the second quarter on a 6-0 run to cut its halftime deficit to 30-23.
 
The second half belonged to Slippery Rock as SRU held the Huskies to only seven points in the third and nine in the final quarter in addition to just a 17.9 shooting percentage from the floor over the final 20 minutes of competition.
 
With the Huskies' offense being held firmly in check, Kennedy Middleton spearheaded the comeback efforts on the offensive end of the floor as she went on a 13-2 run by herself over the first 5:32 of the third quarter to give SRU a 35-32 lead that would never be relinquished as it went on to beat the Huskies 62-46.
 
The second half showing by The Rock was one for the record books. The last time SRU held its opponent to 16 or less second half points was Nov. 24, 2014 when it allowed only 14 points over the final 20 minutes against Penn State Greater Allegheny.
 
Slippery Rock closed the conference victory shooting 42.6 percent (26-of-61) from the field overall, 33.3 percent (3-for-9) from 3-point range and 63.6 percent (7-of-11) at the foul line.
 
SRU held advantages over BU in points off turnovers (20-11), points in the paint (32-12), fast break points (12-0) and second chance points (8-6). The Rock forced the Huskies into 19 turnovers while only making a season-low 11 miscues of its own.
 
The Huskies were led by Kelly Leszcynski with 14 points, five rebounds and two assists. As a team, Bloomsburg shot 26.3 percent (15-for-57) from the floor, 24 percent (6-for-25) from long range and 83.8 percent (10-for-12) from the free throw line.
 
The 26.3 shooting percentage is the lowest the Slippery Rock has allowed since forcing Pitt-Johnstown to shoot only 22.1 percent from the floor Feb. 2, 2020 at Morrow Field House.
 
Slippery Rock will finish out the 2022 calendar year on the road against PSAC East opponent East Stroudsburg 5:30 p.m. Dec. 30 at Koehler Field House.









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