SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team was narrowly defeated by Edinboro, 67-63, Wednesday in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division contest at Morrow Field House.
 
With the loss SRU's overall record moves to 9-7 while becoming 4-6 in the conference. The Fighting Scots improve to 9-6 on the season and 6-4 in league competition following the win.
 
The Rock were paced by Kennedy Middleton, who scored a team-high 15 points in addition to having six rebounds, four steals and three assists while making all three of her free throw attempts for the night.
 
Isabellah Middleton posted her second consecutive, and sixth career, double-double by way of 10 points and 12 rebounds to go along with two assists and one steal.
 
Bella Long was SRU's remaining player to score double-digit points as she came off the bench to tally 11 points courtesy of three made 3-pointers as well as two rebounds.
 
Rounding out Slippery Rock's leaders were Kelley McKnight (9 points, 2 rebounds), Kaylin Venick (8 points, 5 rebounds), Deleah Gibson (6 points, 10 rebounds), Jordan Kauffman (2 points, 7 rebounds) and Alyssa Gillin (2 points, 3 rebounds).
 
The Fighting Scots got off to a strong start by holding The Rock to only eight points in the game's first 10 minutes to take a 13-8 lead into the second quarter.
 
Slippery Rock was able to use a 15-5 run through the first 4:34 of the second quarter to take a 23-20 advantage over Edinboro before the two teams traded baskets to an eventual 34-29 Fighting Scots edge at halftime.
 
Edinboro gradually stretched its lead out to as many as 11 points at 48-37 with 2:57 left to play in the third quarter, but to their credit The Rock continued to battle and was able to trim the Fighting Scots' lead to just 48-45 at the conclusion of the third.
 
SRU continued its momentum into the fourth quarter as baskets by Kennedy Middleton and McKnight gave The Rock a one-point lead (49-48) with 9:13 remaining in the contest.
 
However, the Fighting Scots used a 13-2 run to retake their advantage and extend it to 10-points before holding off SRU for the game's final 4:42 en route to a narrow 67-63 Edinboro victory.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock shot 32.9 percent (26-of-79) from the floor, 15.8 percent (3-of-19) from long range and a season-high 88.9 percent (8-of-9) from the foul line. Despite the loss, The Rock outrebounded the Fighting Scots 54-48 for its first game of the season collecting at least 50 rebounds.
 
Edinboro ended the night shooting 35.1 percent (27-of-77) from the floor, 22.2 percent (8-of-36) from 3-point range and 71.4 percent (5-of-7) from the charity stripe. The Fighting Scots and The Rock each ended the contest with 16 turnovers. Rana Elhusseini led all scorers with 27 points to go along with eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
 
Wednesday's game served as Slippery Rock's "Bobby McGraw Celebration" night. McGraw, who was the head coach of the women's basketball team at SRU for eight years, passed away unexpectedly in July. In recognition of what he meant to the SRU community, Slippery Rock presented members of McGraw's family with a formal letter announcing the creation of the Bobby McGraw Memorial Scholarship at halftime.
 
Slippery Rock travels to Pitt-Johnstown for a PSAC West road contest 1p.m. Saturday.







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