This past week, The Rock Women’s Basketball team had to win to stay alive. Unfortunately, they saw their playoff hopes fade away as they fell to a Clarion team that had just four wins before coming into the battle against Slippery Rock.
The Golden Eagles pounced on their opportunity to play spoiler to The Rock. Early on they got out to a 13-4 lead. It felt as if they could not miss and on the opposite, it felt as if nothing would drop.
An eight-point first quarter for Slippery Rock put them in an early hole. After a big win against Indiana (Pa.), they looked to be on a roll. Winners of three straight coming in, but that all went out the window when the first quarter started. Clarion came to Slippery Rock to win and end their foe’s season.
The Golden Eagles grabbed a 17-point lead in the early stages of the second quarter, and they already had Slippery Rock stunned. Their lead in the second quarter did not drop below 11. They walked into the break with a 38-27 lead.
The story was much of the same in the third quarter. Every shot Slippery Rock made; Clarion had an answer for. Deleah Gibson fought to keep their playoff hopes alive, and in the third quarter she put up eight points as they tried to claw their way back into the game.
Even her 13-point fourth quarter could not quite pull them back into it. They continued to chip away at the lead. They got to within one point, but just like that, some clutch baskets put them away for good.
They will now wrap up their season on Saturday when they welcome Pitt-Johnstown, but it was not where they wanted to be. For another year, they will be on the outside looking in. The silver lining is that they will have a winning season and some momentum under acting head coach Chenara Wilson.
