By Patrick Connelly/Sports Editor
With 13 wins already under their belts, the Slippery Rock High girls are as good as advertised and showed it Monday night in a 50-36 Region 5-AAA rout of visiting Franklin.
“This puts us one game closer to what we want,” Lady Rockets’ mentor Adrienne Orris said after the contest. “We’re just taking it game by game. We’re not gonna let anyone come in and get in our way and knock us off.”
The Lady Rockets have outscored opponents this season by an average of about 30 points per win, but Orris said her team’s primary modus operandi is on the defensive side of the ball.
“The effort that we put out on defense is what pulls us out in the end,” the coach noted. “We know if we hold teams at 40 we’re gonna win. We know that.”
Orris’ team didn’t allow Franklin to score in double figures in any quarter until the game was well in hand in the fourth frame.
Slippery Rock soared out to a 9-2 lead to start things off. After a field goal by Franklin’s Kaitlyn Ritchey with 10 seconds left in the first quarter, the Lady Knights cut the deficit to just 3, but senior Karly Rhoads hit a field goal herself before the buzzer to extend the Lady Rockets’ edge and the 13-8 Slippery Rock lead.
Franklin tied the game at 13 early in the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Saddie Gravatt. The Lady Rockets then allowed Franklin to only score one more bucket before the break. A 3-pointer by Kourtney Rhoads 3 seconds before halftime gave Slippery Rock a 23-15 advantage.
“We kept on kicking it out as the game continued, especially on the defensive end, and we didn’t give up,” Orris said.
Another 3-pointer, this time by Sarah Cessar, gave the Lady Rockets a 29-15 lead near the midpoint of the third quarter.
Franklin narrowed its deficit to 11 on a 3-pointer by Brooke Deal with 3:10 left in the frame, but Slippery Rock had a 36-20 lead by the end of the quarter.
Three-pointers by Deal and Franklin’s Madison Irwin contributed to the Lady Knight's 17-point fourth quarter, but Slippery Rock his 11 of 16 free throws down the final stretch to seal the victory.
The fine fourth frame from the charity stripe was part of a 70 percent foul shooting night for the Lady Rockets and a 42 percent night from the field.
The Lady Knights (2-3, 11-3) were just 14-44 from the field as they fell to Slippery Rock for the second time in less than a month.
“I thought tonight as the game increased we understood the intensity that we needed (to win) better,” Orris said.
“It was a defensive battle on both ends,” the coach said. The Lady Knights forced 16 Slippery Rock turnovers, but had 17 miscues themselves.
Karly Rhoads led the Lady Rockets with 18 points, eight of which came on free throws in the second half. Kourtney Rhoads and Cessar each added another nine points to the Slippery Rock tally, while Gravatt led Franklin with 10.
Slippery Rock has another Region 3-AAA showdown with Titusville at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night, a team they topped 74-38 on Jan. 11. The Lady Rockets also have a non-region tilt at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Indiana.
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FRANKLIN 8 7 5 16 36
SLIPP. ROCK 13 10 10 17 50
SLIPPERY ROCK — Cessar 3-1-2-9, Campbell 0-6-10-6, Ko. Rhoads 3-1-2-9, Doyle 1-3-4-5, Ka. Rhoads 5-7-8-18, Crocker 0-0-0-0, Northcott 1-1-1-3, Siebka 0-0-0-0. 3-pt. goals: Cessar 2, Ko. Rhoads 1. Totals: 13-19-27-50.
FRANKLIN — Gravatt 3-2-2-10, Ritchey 2-0-0-4, Hager 4-0-0-8, A. Witt 0-0-0-0, Snyder 0-0-0-0, T. Witt 1-0-0-2, Deal 2-0-0-6, Dolan 0-0-0-0, Benvenuti 0-0-0-0, Irwin 2-0-0-6. 3-pt. goals: Gravatt 2, Deal 2, Irwin 2. Totals: 14-2-2-36.
