During the six-week winter vacation, the Slippery Rock University women’s basketball team was hard at work, both on the practice court, as well as during competition.
The Green and White played eleven games over the break, with the team earning three wins and eight losses overall.
The three wins collected by Slippery Rock came against Cheyney University of Pa. (50-41) on Dec. 19, East Stroudsburg University of Pa. (58-46) on Jan. 11, and Kutztown University of Pa. (66-60) that same weekend on Jan.12.
Senior guard Erinne Cunningham led the Rock to victory over Cheyney with a game-high 14 points.
East Stroudsburg was handled easily behind a 14-point performance by sophomore guard D’Asia Chambers.
The Rock’s third victory over break against Kutztown came from a stunning 23-point performance by Cunningham.
“As a young team we are progressing very well, we just need to take better care of the ball and take higher percentage shots,” head coach Tanya Longo said about the teams performance over the vacation. “We do a great job of competing for a good portion of the game, but unfortunately the game is 40 minutes long, not 30 or 35. Other teams take advantage of our short lapses in scoring and that is our downfall.”
All three of the break’s wins happened on the Rock’s home court at Morrow Fieldhouse.
The eight dropped games over break came at the hands of: West Chester University of Pa., Lourdes University, Millersville University, Shippensburg University, Lock Haven University, Mercyhurst University, California University of Pa. and Edinboro University, in that order.
On Wednesday night, Slippery Rock (4-14 (3-11 PSAC)) welcomed the Gannon University Lady Knights to Morrow Field House.
Gannon came into the game with an 18-2 overall record (13-1 PSAC), as well as being ranked seventh among Division II women’s basketball teams in the nation.
The Rock played tough until the end of the game, but was defeated by a score of 82-64.
During the first half of the game, the Lady Knights sank 10 of their 18 attempted 3-point shots, while Slippery Rock only managed to drain two of their 13 attempted 3-pointers.
Both teams headed into their locker rooms at halftime with the Rock trailing the Lady Knights by a score of 49-29.
“At halftime we really emphasized whom we needed to cover to prevent those 3-point shots,” Coach Longo said when asked about the three-point opportunities.
“We need to have a better game plan and identify those hot shooters from the beginning tip-off to prevent any more situations like that.”
There was a significant drop off in Gannon’s shot opportunities as well as scoring, following the halftime break.
The Lady Knights were held to only four successful 3-point shots in the second half.
Brittany Batts of Gannon leads the PSAC in three-pointers made. She scored six 3-pointers for 18 points.
During the second half of the game, the Rock scored 35 points opposed to the Lady Knights 33 points.
With one final push near the end of the game the Green and White pulled the game to within 14 points of Gannon with 3:41 to play but wouldn’t cut the lead any closer.
“We have great depth and youth on our team. The whole team is ready to go at tip off and it has really benefitted us,” Coach Longo said about the stamina and dedication of her team. “Our depth is one of our biggest asset and we are only getting better.”
Slippery Rock will travel to Indiana University of Pa. (15-5, 10-4 PSAC) on Saturday night for a PSAC match with tip-off at 5:30 pm. The men’s team will play after.
This game will close off the first half of the PSAC-West schedule for
