SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team battled back from a 21-point deficit, but had its comeback bid fall short in a 75-71 loss to Clarion Wednesday at Morrow Field House.
 
Wednesday's loss coupled with a win by Seton Hill University over Mercyhurst University officially eliminated Slippery Rock from Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament contention. SRU's record now moves to 15-12 overall and 10-11 in the league while Clarion becomes 5-21 overall and 5-16 in the PSAC West.
 
The Rock were led by Deleah Gibson, who ended the night scoring a career-high 31 points to go along with seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks. Gibson was 5-of-12 from 3-point range and now extends her career total to 93, the 11th-highest total in program history.
 
Isabellah Middleton was the remaining SRU player to tally double-digit points as she recorded 26 and finished her stat line with nine rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block.
 
Rounding out Slippery Rock's leaders were Kaylin Venick (5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists), Jada Ward (4 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound), Jordan Kauffman (3 points, 5 rebounds) and Emily Venick (2 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist).
 
The Golden Eagles dominated the opening half of the game as they held a 22-8 advantage at the end of the first before taking an eventual 38-27 lead at the halftime break.
 
Entering the third quarter, Clarion continued to maintain its momentum as well as its double-digit lead throughout the quarter's duration while also extended its lead to as many as 21 at 68-47 with 8:09 left to play in the fourth.
 
Slippery Rock started its best look at a comeback when it closed out the contest on an impressive 26-5 run to cut its deficit to as little as one point on two separate occasions in the game's final 90 seconds. Gibson and Isabellah Middleton spearheaded the late rally by scoring 21 of SRU's 26 fourth quarter points.
 
However, Clarion narrowly avoided giving away its big lead by converting seven of its final eight free throws in the game's final moments to escape with a four-point win.
 
For the game, Slippery Rock shot 43.8 percent (28-of-64) from the floor, 23.1 percent (6-of-26) from 3-point range and 60 percent (9-of-15) from the foul line. SRU out rebounded Clarion 36-34. Additionally, The Rock forced the Golden Eagles into 12 turnovers while making just 10 miscues of their own.
 
Clarion ended the contest shooting 45.5 percent (25-of-55) from the field, 39.1 percent (9-of-23) from long range and 84.2 percent (16-of-19) from the charity stripe. Leading the Golden Eagles was Sierra Bermudez who tallied 21 points, six assists, three rebounds and one steal.
 
SRU closes out the regular season versus Pitt-Johnstown 1 p.m. Saturday at Morrow Field House where it will recognize the 2022-23 senior class of Gibson and Kennedy Middleton for their contributions to the program over their careers.






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