SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -  The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team cut a 24-point first half deficit to just seven, but was unable to complete its comeback bid as it lost 75-59 to No. 23 Gannon University Wednesday at Morrow Field House.
 
With the loss, Slippery Rock's record moves to 8-4 overall and 3-3 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference while Gannon improves to 12-2 overall and 4-2 in the conference.
 
The nationally ranked Golden Knights jumped out to a dominant start as they outscored The Rock 20-3 over the first quarter before extending their lead to as many as 24 points and taking a 40-18 lead into halftime.
 
Coming out of the break, SRU rallied with an 11-4 run, ultimately outscoring Gannon by 13 points (28-15) in the third quarter. Kennedy Middleton helped to ignite the Slippery Rock comeback by scoring 12 points in the third.
 
Kennedy Middleton opened the fourth quarter with another successful jumper to cut GU's lead to just seven points at 55-48 with 8:29 left in regulation.
 
However, SRU was unable to complete their late game resurgence as the Golden Knights answered back by scoring 20 of the game's final 31 points, with 11 coming at the foul line, en route to the 75-59 win.
 
Isabellah Middleton paced the Slippery Rock offense with 16 points to go along with nine rebounds, five steals and two assists. Kennedy Middleton added a double-double performance, her seventh such of the season, with 15 points and 12 rebounds in addition to making three assists.
 
Deleah Gibson came off the bench to go for 11 points, three rebounds, four assists and three steals while Alyssa Gillin chipped in a career-high nine points in addition to having two rebounds, one assist and one block.
 
Rounding out The Rock's leaders were Kelley McKnight (4 points, 3 rebounds), Emily Venick (3 points, 2 steals) and Arianna Mitchell (3 rebounds, 1 point).
 
After early game shooting troubles of just 15.6 percent from the floor over the first half, Slippery Rock ended the night shooting 33.9 percent (21-of-62) from the field overall, 27.3 percent (3-of-11) from long range and 73.7 percent (14-of-19) from the charity stripe.
 
For the game, the Golden Knights outrebounded The Rock 35-52 while SRU committed 14 turnovers and forced Gannon into 15 miscues.
 
Gannon was 40 percent from the floor (26-of-65), 25 percent from 3-point range (7-of-28) and 76.2 percent (16-of-21) from the free throw line. Samantha Pirosko led all scorer with 31 points to go along with 10 rebounds, two assists and one block.
 
Slippery Rock continues PSAC West action when it hosts California (Pa.) 1 p.m. Saturday at Morrow Field House for its Rock Athletic Club Game.
 








To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).