The Slippery Rock University women’s basketball team hosted Clarion University Saturday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) matchup. The Rock was able to come away with the victory and improve their record to 12-12 and 10-9 in the PSAC. Clarion fell to 7-17 (2-16).
Rock head coach Bobby McGraw said Saturday’s win was a “solid” victory and one in which he expected his team to win.
“We did what we had to do today,” McGraw said. “Clarion made it a little interesting at the end there, but we decided to put in some of our reserves because they have earned the playing time.”
The Rock put up 64 points in the first three-quarters of play but could only muster 10 points in the fourth quarter.
The Rock was led by junior Morgan Henderson. Henderson recorded 19 points, shooting 7-13 from the field, grabbed 11 rebounds and forced a pair of turnovers. Sophomore LeeAnn Gibson recorded 10 points, shooting 6-7 from the free-throw line, and amassed seven rebounds. Transfer Madison Johnson continued her strong debut season for The Rock by putting up nine points and recording a pair of assists. Senior Sierra Fordhman and Skyla O’Connor combined for 15 points, three assists, and forced two turnovers.
Sophomore Brooke Hinderliter recorded 14 points, shooting six for nine from the field, two rebounds and forced four steals. She currently ranks 18th in the PSAC with 339 points.
McGraw said that he likes the improvement his team has made in the past several games.
“People forget that we played three nationally ranked teams in under two weeks,” he said. “We might have not played our best basketball, but we played teams who are nationally known as some of the best Division II programs in the country. I like where our team is right now.”
With three games left in the regular season, The Rock will look to clinch a playoff birth Wednesday night when they travel to #13 Edinboro University to take on the Fighting Scots. Edinboro has not lost a game since Jan. 13th when they fell to no. 3 Indiana (Pa.). The Fighting Scots battled Slippery Rock in their last matchup on Jan. 20th, where The Rock lost with a final score of 74-52.
Tipoff for Wednesday’s game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
