JOHNSTOWN Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team fell to Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division opponent Pitt-Johnstown, 62-45, on the road Wednesday night.
 
The loss moves Slippery Rock's overall record to 10-11 and its PSAC West mark to 5-10 while Pitt-Johnstown improves to 10-13 overall and 8-9 in the conference.
 
The Rock was led by Deleah Gibson who tallied a game-high 15 points and four steals in addition to having two rebounds, one block and one assist. Rounding out the leaders for SRU were Jamiyah Johnson (12 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block) and Anyah Curd (7 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block). 
 
Slippery Rock and the Mountain Cats traded baskets for the first half of the contest with The Rock holding onto a lead that fluctuated between one to five points before a buzzer-beater layup for UPJ by Olivia Fasick sent the game into halftime knotted up 31-31. SRU ended the first half shooting 52.2 percent from the floor.
 
Coming out of the break, the Mountain Cats opened the third quarter on a 9-0 run before Slippery Rock scored their first point via a Kennedy Middleton foul shot at 6:41. The Rock went on to only score five additional points in the quarter, all of which came from the foul line, while UPJ tacked on 12 points prompting a 52-37 lead heading into the fourth.
 
Slippery Rock was unable to re-group from the run as Pitt-Johnstown went on to hold The Rock to just eight more points for the duration of the contest en route to a 62-45 win.
 
The Rock concluded the night shooting 34.1 percent (15-of-44) from the field overall, 26.7 percent (4-of-15) from 3-point range and 78.6 percent (11-of-14) at the foul line. Slippery Rock committed 20 turnovers while forcing UPJ into 19 miscues.
 
The Mountain Cats shot 43.6 percent (24-of-55) overall, 33.3 percent (6-of-18) from long range and were a perfect 8-of-8 at the foul line. Pitt-Johnstown led SRU in rebounds (38-24), points in the paint (30-20) and points off turnovers (21-15).
 
Slippery Rock continues PSAC West road action with its second matchup this week against Seton Hill University 1 p.m. Saturday. The Griffins defeated The Rock, 60-45, Monday at Morrow Field House.


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