SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team maintained its perfect Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference record with a 69-64 double overtime road victory Saturday at Shippensburg University.
 
With the win, Slippery Rock improves its record to 5-4 overall and a perfect 3-0 inside the PSAC. SRU has now won its first three league games for the first time since the 2018-19 season. Shippensburg falls to 1-8 overall and 0-2 in PSAC games.
 
Saturday also marks the first time Slippery Rock won a game that went two overtimes since an 86-84 victory Jan. 2, 2022 over Fairmont State University.
 
Slippery Rock was led by Sophia Hook, who turned in a career-high 27 points after converting 8-of-17 field goal attempts overall, including a 4-for-8 effort from 3-point range and a 7-for-10 day at the foul line all the while grabbing four rebounds and making two steals.
 
Karianna Woods came off the bench to not only provide The Rock with 14 points on 7-of-14 shooting, but also collect five rebounds, dish out three assists and make six steals. Woods' six steals are tied for the ninth highest single-game total by SRU in program history.
 
Iyanna Wade went for nine points, five assists, four steals and while not an official statistic was also responsible for forcing several Shippensburg offensive fouls.
 
Kayley Joseph-Bernard finished just shy of a double-double as part of a solid all-around performance of eight points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and one steal. Joseph-Bernard has now blocked multiple shots in a game in six of nine contests this year.
 
Rounding out SRU's top contributors with eight points, three rebounds, one block and one steal was Alyssa Gillin.
 
Slippery Rock earned the win despite an off-shooting day in which The Rock went 26-of-68 (.382) from the field overall, 4-for-23 (.174) from 3-point range and 13-for-24 (.542) at the foul line. The majority of The Rock's shooting struggles happened early, as SRU shot 46.3 percent (19-for-41) from the field in the second half + overtime.
 
SRU did force 24 Shippensburg turnovers, the most by a Rock opponent this year.
 
Defensively, The Rock limited the Raiders to a .413 (26-of-63) field goal percentage, including a 2-of-12 showing from distance. Shippensburg, which did hold a +12 (50-38) rebounding margin, made just 10-of-22 free throws. Michelle Olak had a 27-point, 10-rebound double-double to lead the Raiders.
 
Offense was at a premium in the opening two quarters as The Rock and Raiders played to 21-21 halftime stalemate.
 
Layups by both Woods and Gillin to open the second half forced a Shippensburg timeout at 7:56. The break in action proved beneficial for the Raiders as Shippensburg proceeded to go on a 16-6 run out of the timeout over the remainder of the third quarter to take a 37-31 lead into the final 10 minutes.
 
Shippensburg grew its lead out to eight points two minutes into the fourth quarter only for The Rock to score 10 of the next 12 points to erase SU's lead and make it a 41-41 contest with 4:30 to play in regulation. Woods scored six points over the run.
 
The Rock and Raiders went on to trade baskets over the following three minutes until an Olak layup put Shippensburg ahead, 48-46, with 1:03 left to play.
 
Coming out of a Slippery Rock timeout, SRU's ensuing offensive set saw The Rock run the clock down before Woods came through with a successful jumper in the paint to once again pull SRU and SU to a 48-48 tie with 41 seconds showing on the clock leading to a Shippensburg timeout.
 
The Raiders were unable to find a go-ahead basket out of the timeout, but a Gillin attempt with three seconds to play was also blocked off SRU and out of bounds to once again give Shippensburg the ball in a potential game-winning situation. However, the Raiders were once again unable to find a go-ahead basket as the game headed to overtime.
 
As was the case for the first 40 minutes of competition, overtime was also a period of spurts. The Rock jumped out to a five-point lead only for Shippensburg to score five straight to keep the game locked up 55-55 heading into another overtime.
 
SRU put the game away in double overtime thanks to eight points from Hook and five from Wade as well as The Rock defense forcing crucial Shippensburg offensive fouls to go with several game-sealing free throws down the stretch on the way to the 69-64 victory.
 
Slippery Rock closes out the weekend 1 p.m. Sunday at Lock Haven before breaking for 11 days.
 

 

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