`1The Slippery Rock University women’s basketball team played a pair of road Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) games on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
The Rock (3-1, 1-1) traveled to the Eastern side of the state to take on the Shippensburg Raider (3-1, 1-1) and the Kutztown Golden Bears (1-3, 0-2).
On Saturday the Green and White had a defensive meltdown, giving up 94 points in the team’s loss to Shippensburg. The game was close at the half, with The Rock only being down ten points, 47-37. However, The Raiders outscored SRU 29-9 in a disastrous third quarter and went on to secure the win.
Shippensburg, led by Stephanie Knauer’s game high 23 points, shot a blistering 66.1 percent (37-56) from the floor and went 9-17 from three-point range. Six Shippensburg players scored in double digits and seven made at least four field goals.
Leading the Green and White were senior starting point guard Lexi Carpenter and junior guard Sierra Fordham each with 11 points. Carpenter also added three assists and starting sophomore forward Morgan Henderson chipped in eight points and five rebounds.
Shippensburg dominated Slippery Rock in the paint, outscoring them 54-28 at close range.
On Sunday, big second and fourth quarters powered The Rock past Kutztown in what was a back-and-forth affair. After one quarter, The Golden Bears led SRU 14-13, but The Rock came back to outscore Kutztown 21-15 in the second quarter and go into halftime with a five point lead. The Golden Bears came roaring back in the third quarter, outscoring The Rock 21-13, setting up and exciting fourth quarter with the score at 50-47. Slippery Rock scored 25 fourth points in the fourth quarter, to Kutztown’s 15, making 9-10 free-throws down the stretch to ice the victory.
Carpenter again led The Rock, scoing a team high 22 points on 7-21 shooting and adding in nine assists and nine rebounds. Junior guard/forward Mallory Heinle posted a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds and Henderson chipped in 13 points and six rebounds.
Kutztown tried to run their offense through Jenna Altomare, who attempted 27 shots (22 from three-point range), but ultimately could not get enough shots to fall. SRU held Kutztown to 22-73 (30.1 percent) shooting in the game, with Altomare (8-27) and Alex Heck (2-15) taking most of the shots.
Slippery Rock’s schedule does not slow down over Thanksgiving break, as the team will travel south to play Division I University of Pittsburgh in an exhibition game Wednesday, with back-to-back games in the Ashland Thanksgiving Classic against host Ashland University Saturday and Hillsdale College Sunday.
