On Wednesday evening, the Slippery Rock women’s basketball team traveled to No. 8 Gannon University for the final game of the season, dropping the PSAC-West game 80-48.
Senior Christa Wodarczyk led the team in her final excursion in a Slippery Rock uniform with 10 points and five rebounds. Senior Erinne Cunningham tallied nine points in her last outing on the court and senior Emilee Vitez contributed four points and two rebounds in her last game.
Junior Alexas Brown demonstrated her skill in all aspects with seven points of her own, eight rebounds, and four assists.
Slippery Rock made 29 percent of their shots from the field (18-62) along with 17.9 percent of their 3-point shots (5-28). With only 11 attempts from the free throw line The Rock drained seven of the attempts, giving them a collective 63.6 percent.
The Golden Knights outrebounded the Rock heavily by a 42-29 comparison. Slippery Rock held the upper hand in turnovers however with only 17 going to the Golden Knights while forcing 20.
With the victory, Gannon advances to the postseason tournament where the Golden Knights will be placed as the top seed in the PSAC-West competition.
This past Saturday, the Rock hosted the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Lady Crimson Hawks (20-7 overall, 15-6 PSAC) for a PSAC-West match at Morrow Field House
The game was also Slippery Rock’s final home game of the season as well as their Senior Day, honoring graduating seniors Cunningham, Vitez, and Wodarczyk prior to the game.
“We will recruit to add more talent to our returning roster,” head coach Tanya Longo said about the teams plan for next season. “We have already signed one player who is very talented at the guard position and plan to sign a few more before next season comes around.”
IUP went into the halftime break with a slight 31-24 lead and came out of the locker room with an explosive 43-point showing, toppling the Rock 74-48.
Vitez led the battle for Slippery Rock with a career-high 13 points and five rebounds in her last home game. Sophomore D’Asia Chambers tallied eight points for the Rock and Brown scored six points and dished out seven assists.
With most of the players composing the team looking forward to next season, Longo emphasized the importance of individual improvement prior to the 2013-2014 season.
“I am excited about our returning group of young players,” Longo said. “We showed considerable improvement throughout this season and now we have eight months to work on individual improvements that will help use enjoy a more exciting successful season in 2013-2014.”
Slippery Rock completes their season with a 4-22 record overall and a 3-19 record in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. All four wins came at home for the Rock in Morrow Field House.
