EAST STROUDSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University women's basketball team turned in a tremendous effort on the defensive end to defeat Slippery Rock, 50-42, in a PSAC crossover on Friday night inside Koehler Fieldhouse.
The Warriors snapped their three game losing streak, moving to 7-4 on the season and 3-2 in the conference while the Rock sees their winning streak come to end, dropping to 8-3 overall and 3-2 in the PSAC.
ESU flipped the switch in the third quarter when they outscored Slippery Rock, 14-4, while also holding the Rock scoreless for over eight minutes and to a 7.1 (1-of-14) shooting percentage from the field.
The Warriors were paced by a trio of double-digit scorers as graduate student
Ryan Weise notched her fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four assists and four steals.
Sophomore
Corrin Gill poured in a career-high 13 points while adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals across 37 minutes.
Playing all 40 minutes, sophomore
Cassidy Saylor contributed 13 points, a career-high eight rebounds, three steals, one assist and one block.
Notables
- Sophomore Izzy Vogel added six points and two rebounds while graduate student Shyla Sanford recorded two points, five rebounds, two assists, one steal and one block
- ESU finished 19-of-61 (31.1%) from the field, 2-of-11 (18.2%) from three-point territory and 10-of-18 (55.6%) at the charity stripe
- The Rock was held to their lowest scoring output of the season and shot a season-low 17-of-58 (29.3%) from the field while going 4-of-10 (40.0%) from beyond the arc and 4-of-8 (50.0%) at the free throw line
- Slippery Rock was led by a double-double from Kennedy Middleton with 12 points and 12 rebounds while Isabellah Middleton added nine points and 10 rebounds
- ESU held the advantage over Slippery Rock in rebounds (46-42) and points in the paint (32-20)
- The teams combined for 34 turnovers with Slippery Rock committing 19 compared to 15 for the Warriors
- Today's victory marks ESU's first win over Slippery Rock since January 6, 2016, and first time inside Koehler Fieldhouse since January 3, 2011
How It Happened
- After a pair of free throws from Weise gave ESU a 6-3 edge headed into the media timeout, the Warriors would go on to outscore Slippery Rock, 9-6, over the final 4:31 of the first quarter to take a 15-9 edge.
- ESU stretched their advantage to 17-9 to begin the second quarter, until Slippery Rock scored six of the next nine points to trim their deficit to 20-15 with 4:42 remaining in the period. With ESU then leading 22-15, the Rock proceeded to go on a 10-1 in the last 2:31 of the first half to grab a 25-23 lead over the Warriors headed into the break.
- The Rock score the first three points of the third quarter but went ice cold from the field as the Warriors used a 13-0 spurt during the next six-plus minutes to build their lead back up 36-28. A free throw from Slippery Rock at the 1:26 mark broke an eight minute scoreless drought, but ESU ultimately took a 37-29 advantage into the final eight minutes.
- Weise gave the Warriors a double-digit lead to start the fourth quarter as a three-pointer made the score 40-29. However, the Rock battled back to cut their deficit to seven points at 44-37 going into the media timeout. It's the closet Slippery Rock would get the rest of the way as ESU built their largest advantage of the evening at 50-37 with 2:26 remaining before closing out the Rock, 50-42, for the victory.
Up Next
ESU opens the new year at Shippensburg on Wednesday, Jan. 4 with a 6:00 p.m. tip off against the Raiders from inside Heiges Field House
