Slippery Rock women’s basketball’s struggles continued Wednesday night against California University of Pennsylvania as they fell by a final of 72-64.
The loss drops the Rock to 5-18 overall and 2-17 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play.
Slippery Rock was led by D’asia Chambers with 16 points and six rebounds which tied her career high. Jasmine Cooper added 14 points while Sherita Stanley chipped in 11 points. Emily Vitezcontributed a career high 10 rebounds off the bench. Cal. U was led by Amy Johns with 21 points while Danielle Luckett chipped in 13 points and six rebounds.
The Vulcans came out buzzing to start the game by scoring the first 13 points of the game. SRU didn’t manage to make a field goal until 14 minutes left in the first half.
They contributed to struggle throughout the rest of first half and missed 11 straight 3-point attempts and trailed 33-16 at the half.
The Vulcans continued their dominance in the second half and pushed the 22 points on four separate occasions.
The Rock brought the deficit to single digits in the final six minutes of the game but failed to pull any closer than the eight point final gap.
Slippery Rock shot 43 percent from the field, 20 percent from behind the arc, and 64 percent from the free throw line. SRU out rebounded Cal. U by a 43-30 margin.
Cal. U shot 44 percent from the field, 9 percent from behind the arc, and 61 percent from the free throw line.
Sherita Stanley said that the size advantage helped Cal. U to be very productive over SRU in the first half.
“Their tall post players were productive with their big size advantage,” she said. “Cal. U was more productive in the first half. They came out quick and we started slow.”
Erinne Cunningham said that the Rock focused on being more aggressive in the second half and that allowed SRU to close the gap.
“We were more aggressive in the second half on defense and took care of the basketball,” she said. “Their post play was really evident in the second half and the deficit was too big to overcome.”
Prior to the loss against Cal. U, SRU lost to Edinboro, 62-39 on Saturday. Edinboro is undefeated this season with 22 wins overall and 18 PSAC wins.
Danielle Smith led Slippery Rock with 12 points and six rebounds, but was the only player in double figures. Sherita Stanley chipped in eight points while D’asia Chambers and Jasmine Cooper added five points each. Edinboro was led by Samantha Blazetic who recorded a double-double with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Renee Brown was also in double figures with 13 points and seven rebounds.
Edinboro never looked back as they extended the lead to 18-6 with 12 minutes remaining before halftime.
The lead continued to increase as Edinboro finished the first half on a 14-5 run and took a 42-21 lead into halftime.
Edinboro continued to maintain a double-digit lead as Slippery Rock failed to get any closer than a 19-point deficit in the second half.
The Green and White were held to 13 field goals throughout the game and committed 29 turnovers compared to 25 by Edinboro.
They were also outplayed on the glass as Edinboro held a 49-32 advantage.
Slippery Rock shot 27 percent from the field, 33 percent from behind the arc, and 50 percent from the free throw line.
In contrast, Edinboro shot 38 percent from the field, 60 percent from behind the arc, and 73 percent from the free throw line.
Head coach Tanya Longo commented on not converting on Edinboro’s mistakes, “It is very frustrating,”
She also commented on how big a win against Cal. U would be by saying, “In our league, wins are hard to come by. A win over a quality opponent such as Cal. U would be a boost of confidence as we continue to work to build our program.”
