Seton Hill hosted Slippery Rock on Saturday afternoon in a PSAC West contest as the Griffins honored eight of their seniors on Senior Day.
The Griffins jumped out to a 38-21 halftime advantage and then survived a Slippery Rock comeback bid in the second half as SHU defeated the Rock by a 56-52 score. SHU wins their 20th game of the season and improves to 20-7 overall and 14-4 in the PSAC while the Rock falls to 3-16 overall and 2-12 in the PSAC.
SHU used the momentum from their senior day festivities to jump out to an early lead. Seniors
Samantha Kosmacki and
Sonia Sarda scored the first seven points for the Griffins as they took a quick 7-2 lead just three minutes into the contest. The seniors continued their stellar play early on as they went on a 9-0 run to take a 16-4 lead with 4:03 to play in the quarter. Nolan scored five of the points while Kosmacki and
Cheyenne Trest added two a piece. SHU led 18-11 at the end of the first quarter.
The Rock trimmed the lead to 19-13 less than two minutes into the second quarter but the Griffins responded with an 8-0 run to build the lead to 14. Kosmacki, Trest,
Joi Burleigh and Nolan each scored baskets during the run. Kosmacki then scored the final seven points of the quarter for the Griffins including a three pointer at the buzzer to give SHU the 38-21 halftime advantage.
Slippery Rock began the second half with a 11-2 run as they cut the Griffins lead to 40-32. Back to back baskets from
Christiane Frye pushed the SHU lead back to 44-32 with 5:09 left in the quarter. The Griffins took a 46-39 lead into the fourth quarter.
Both teams started the fourth quarter cold from the floor as there were only six points scored over the first six minutes of the quarter. Sarda gave SHU a 50-43 lead with 3:56 to play. The Rock answered back with two baskets to cut the lead to 50-47 with 2:40 to play. Nolan connected on one of two free throws to give SHU a 51-47 advantage with 1:53 to play. After a defensive stop, Trest hit one of two free throws to extend the lead to five with 1:06 left. Trest then answered a Rock basket to push the lead back to 54-49 with 26 seconds to play. The Rock hit a three to cut the lead to two but Kosmacki hit two free throws with 12 seconds to play to push the lead to 56-52. The Rock missed a three and Trest grabbed the rebound to close out the win.
Nolan posted another double double with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Kosmacki finished with 16 points, five rebounds, four blocks and two steals in the win. Trest, Sarda and Frye each scored seven.
SHU will host CalU on Wednesday evening in an important PSAC West and Atlantic Regional contest.
