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Sophomores with class
By Mike Kilroy
Eagle Staff Writer
SLIPPERY ROCK — There are times when the Slippery Rock High girls basketball team plays with confidence and wisdom that belies its youth.
Then there are times when it plays every bit like a bunch of sophomores.
There was a little of both against Titusville Thursday night, but in the end wisdom — and brute force on the boards — won out as Slippery Rock toppled Titusville 53-52 in a battle of the teams nicknamed Rockets.
Trailing 52-51 with less than 15 seconds remaining, Slippery Rock inbounded the basketball and proceeded to launch two 3-pointers. Sarah Cessar was set to put up another bomb from the corner, but drove to the hoop instead for a short jumper that rattled through with 5.8 seconds remaining.
"The plan was not to shoot 3s," said SlipperyRock coach Adrienne Orris. "That was my sophomores taking those 3s. (Sarah) was standing in front of me and I yelled we only need two. She was going to take that 3."
That was one of the few sophomore moments of the night for SlipperyRock, which started five sophomores and brought two more off the bench.
For most of the game, Slippery Rock showed remarkable poise.
It trailed 17-10 late in the first quarter, but rallied to take a 19-17 lead early in the second quarter.
Slippery Rock (16-6, 9-2) fell behind again 46-39 in the fourth period, but calmly rallied with a quick 7-0 run.
Down by three points with 1:36 remaining, Slippery Rock still didn't crack.
"There wasn't panic," Orris said. "There was, 'We are not losing this game.'"
A big reason why Slippery Rock didn't lose was offensive rebounding. It dominated the boards, getting nearly two shots to every one for Titusville.
"That killed us," said Titusville coach Greg Houck.
Cessar ended up with 15 rebounds to go with her 13 points and game-winning shot. Adele Campbell added 14 boards.
That helped Slippery Rock overcome a dreadful shooting night — it shot a mere 36 percent from the floor.
It also helped it overcome some turnovers, even though Orris didn't consider all of them bad.
"There are two types of turnovers in my book: positive turnovers and negative turnovers," Orris said. "Positive turnovers is when we are pushing the ball, pushing the ball and trying to make passes. Negative turnovers are travels and getting the ball stripped from us. Right now, most of our turnovers are positive."
Kourtney Rhoads scored 16 points and Karly Rhoads added 14 more for Slippery Rock. The twin sisters combined to shoot 14-of-38 from the field.
Marissa Neely led Titusville with 19 points, including 18 on six 3-pointers, and Drew Barnhart added 17.
The loss all but dashed the District 10 Class AAA playoff hopes for Titusville (3-15, 3-8) and may have opened the door for Slippery Rock's rival, Grove City, to slip in.
Slippery Rock already knew it was going to get the second seed out of the region and will play an opponent to be determined next Thursday or Friday at a site to be determined.
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