ERIE, Pa. - After an opening ten minutes that went back and forth to be knotted at 19-19, the visitors from Slippery Rock outscored the Mercyhurst women's basketball team by six in the second and held on for the 69-64 win at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center on Wednesday night in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division play.
It was the Lakers who nabbed the early advantage with
Amber Renz and
Lauren Lapertosa accounting for the 6-2 edge through two minutes. Daeja Quick stemmed the tide for just a moment with a jump shot after the home miss. However, five points by
Kori Sidwell aided a 7-0 Mercyhurst charge to lead 13-4 with 5:50 to play. The home side maintained the control with a pair on the line from
Meghan Komendarek to hold onto the 15-7 cushion. Unfortunately, Madison Johnson, LeeAnn Gibson, and Brooke Hinderliter organized a 12-4 run to end the frame for the 19-19 score.
Emily Shopene handed the hosts the 21-19 edge with a layup, but Karington Ketterer, Quick and Hinderliter put together a 9-0 push to grab a seven-point lead 28-21 at the 3:49 mark. Komendarek picked up four Lakers points to close the score to 29-25, but the Rock answered back with four consecutive points to extend their advantage to 33-25. The final six Mercyhurst points of the half all came from the foul line thanks to Renz leaving the home side down 37-31 at the break.
To begin the second half a Renz free throw and triple from Lapertosa cut the margin back to 39-35, however again it was Gibson, Johnson, and Hinderliter putting an 8-0 charge together pushing the Rock edge to a dozen 47-35 at the halfway mark of the third. Hinderliter upped the lead to 49-36, before Renz scored six of the Lakers final nine points of the quarter helping the home team to close within 51-47 through 30-minutes.
The two teams exchanged the opening four points of the period, but Ketterer and Gibson netted three quick ones to push the margin back to 56-49 still with 7:44 remaining.
Vivian Allison kept Mercyhurst within striking distance thanks to a three and one at the stripe to make it 56-53. An 8-2 sprint by the Rock finished off by a jumper for Hinderliter extended the gap to 64-55 at the 2:00 mark. The Lakers ended the game on a 9-4 charge with Shopene hitting a buzzer-beater, but it was not enough for the 69-64 final.
The Lakers struggled shooting the ball going 28.8% from the field, 22.7% outside the arc, and 80.6% at the line. Slippery Rock was 44.9% from the floor, 16.7% from deep, and 72.7% on the charity line. Mercyhurst held a sizeable 18-1 edge in bench scoring, along with a 20-10 advantage in second chance points.
Three Lakers had double-digits led by 18 for Renz, followed by Lapertosa who netted 12 and Komendarek finished with 10. Shopene and Sidwell each had seven. Komendarek was the leading rebounder pulling in seven.
Hinderliter had 30 to lead the Rock. Quick (14) and Gibson (11) also hit double-figures. Gibson capped off the double-double grabbing 10 boards.
Mercyhurst returns to action on Saturday, January 25 when they visit California (Pa.) for a matchup with the Vulcans at 1 pm.
