SALEM, W. Va. –  The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team bested Salem University on the road after pulling away late by shooting 68.4 percent from the floor in the second half to earn a 69-59 victory Saturday afternoon.
 
The Rock improve to 2-2 on the year, picking up their first true road win of the season. The Tigers, who were playing in their home opener, fall to 0-4 overall with the result.
 
Kayley Joseph-Bernard led The Rock with 15 points and five rebounds, shooting 4-of-6 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Four assists, two steals and one block from the junior forward also all led SRU in its winning effort.
 
Brooklyn Jones tallied 12 points with two rebounds, two assists and one steal. Regan Atkins added 11 points, while Rebecca Goetz hit 5-of-6 from the floor to add 10 points. Both Atkins and Goetz matched Joseph-Bernard's squad-high five rebounds with Goetz picking up four offensive boards.
 
Tahmala Thorpe (9 points, 3 rebounds), Sophia Hook (6 points, 2 rebounds), Deryn Moye (3 points, 1 rebound), Endya Robinson (2 points) and Alyssa Gillin (1 point, 1 rebound) rounded out SRU's nine scorers. Atkins, Gillin and Thorpe all joined Joseph-Bernard in recording one block.
 
SRU led by as many as five points in the first quarter, but a late 7-0 run momentarily poked the Tigers ahead. Goetz made a fastbreak layup at the buzzer to level the game at 13-13 after 10 minutes of play.
 
The Rock used an 8-0 run of their own to counteract a four-point deficit early in the second quarter, but the Tigers put up seven unanswered points with less than three minutes left in the half. Goetz again answered at the buzzer to tie the game, tipping in a missed layup to send The Rock into halftime in a 25-25 deadlock.
 
An otherwise even third quarter swayed in Slippery Rock's direction when Jones strung together six straight points by way of a 3-pointer, a layup and a free throw. That run lifted The Rock to an eight-point advantage with 3:57 left in the period.
 
That's right around when Salem started to feel the repercussions of its foul trouble, allowing SRU to hit a trio of free throws to take a 45-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
While The Rock did hit six of their seven shots in the fourth quarter (85.7 percent), SRU's greatest scoring benefit came from 18 free throw attempts, 12 of which were made. Both teams entered bonus with Salem going 6-for-6 at the stripe, but The Rock had already done enough damage to ensure the 10-point victory.
 
Slippery Rock hit 24-of-46 to shoot 52.2 percent on the day despite a 2-of-13 (.154) showing from beyond the 3-point arc. That means that Slippery Rock made 22-of-33 (.667) of its 2-point field goals in the contest. The Rock also shot 70.4 percent from the charity stripe, going 19-for-27.
 
Salem shot 42.2 percent from the field (19-of-45) while going 7-for-21 (.333) from deep. The Tigers knocked down 14 of their 22 (.636) free throw attempts. Two players fouled out for Salem, a team that gathered all 59 of its points from five players. Liliani Krause and Carine Pinkney both totaled 19 points with Cassandra Smith leading the Tigers with seven boards.
 
SRU also finished the game with a -1 rebounding margin (29-28) and a +5 difference in turnovers (20-15).
 
Slippery Rock will enjoy almost a full week way from competition before diving into Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference crossover play. SRU hosts the PSAC East's West Chester University 3 p.m. Nov. 22 and Millersville University 1 p.m. Nov. 23 at Morrow Field House.





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