Slippery Rock women’s basketball (5-12 overall, 1-2 PSAC) fell to Gannon University (14-3 overall, 11-2 PSAC) 79-62 on Wednesday night at the Hammermil Center.
The Rock kept the game close in the first half, but an early run by the Lady Knights opened up a 10 point lead at 45-35, and SRU never recovered.
Gannon was led by Nettie Blake with 16 points as well as four other players in double figures.
SRU head coach Tanya Longo said that Blake is a strong player on a strong team and contributes in many different ways for the Lady Knights.
“Blake is a very good player and their team has balanced scoring while being team oriented and a lot of that is because of Blake.”
Slippery Rock was led by senior forward Danielle Smith with a team high 15 points to go along with six rebounds.
The Rock also got contributions from their bench with freshman guard D’asia Chambers chipping in nine points.
In addition, SRU had multiple players in double figures such as sophomore forward Jasmine Copper, junior guardErinne Cunningham, and senior guard Sherita Stanley.
Slippery Rock finished the game shooting 45.6 percent (26-for-57) from the floor but a dismal 28 percent (8-for-28) from behind the ark.
On the other hand, Gannon shot 50 percent (29-for-58) from the floor but was on fire from behind the three-point line going 53 percent (8-for-15).
SRU fell behind Gannon early in the first half and was down 17-8 before a 9-0 run tied the game at 17. The Rock kept the game close through the rest of the half and a 3-pointer right before the half brought SRU within 4.
In addition, Gannon went to the free throw line early and often while making 13 of 20 attempts compared to Slippery Rock who only visited the charity stripe four times. Gannon also won the turnover battle in convincing fashion by finishing plus eight.
Longo said that ball control and Gannon’s ability to make shots led to the loss.
“We were not taking care of the basketball tonight,” she said. “We also couldn’t stop Gannon from making 3-pointers.”
Chambers agreed with her coach and said that the team will be in better shape if they’re able to cut down on mental errors.
“Gannon’s a good team and they capitalized on our mistakes,” Chambers said. “We need to improve our mental mistakes and turnovers and we’ll be fine.”
Stanley said that it wasn’t anything that Gannon accomplished but what SRU failed to do that led to the loss.
“Gannon didn’t do anything special to win that game, they just played their style,” Stanley said. “We need to make some improvements for the IUP game.”
The Green and White has lost three straight games, which is the second longest losing streak this season. The longest was a six game streak that stretched through the end of November and into December.
SRU’s next game will be at Morrow Field House tommorow against Indiana University of Pennsylvania at 1 p.m.
IUP is led by Sarah Pastorek, who averages 13 points per game to go along with 7 rebounds and Ashley Stoner also averages double figures with 10 points per game to go along with 5 rebounds.
The Crimson Hawks have compiled a 15-2 overall record this season with an impressive 5-1 record in PSAC conference play and are undefeated on the road this season.
