SLIPPERY ROCK - Gannon University turned up the pressure - and turned away The Rock.

With the game tied at 37 with 17:08 remaining, the visiting Knights pressured the ball at mid-court, forced five turnovers and went on a 12-0 run in the next six minutes.

The spurt proved to be the difference in Gannon's 68-55 women's basketball victory over Slippery Rock University in a mutual season opener Tuesday at Morrow Field House.

"Our defense is designed to set up our offense," Gannon coach Cleve Wright said. "Our strength is in our guard play and they made a difference tonight."

Jen Gwin, a four-year starter at point guard for Gannon, had 14 points, 11 assists and four steals. She needs just 57 assists to break her school's career record.

Gannon led by as many as 16 points with eight minutes left. SRU went on a 7-0 run to pull to within nine with 5:07 to play and had possession of the ball.

Gwin stole it in the backcourt and drove the other way for a layup. She stole the ball on The Rock's next possession and recorded an assist on teammate Beth Kraus' layup with 4:03 left to ice the victory.

"Jen goes full-speed all the time," Wright said. "She's an All-American caliber player, in my opinion."

SRU coach Laurel Heilman agreed.

"She's one of the best," Heilman said. "She makes things happen out there. I'm glad she'll be gone after this season."

Gannon has beaten SRU eight consecutive times. The previous six were by an average margin of 23 points, including an 87-45 drubbing in Erie last year.

"That was right before Christmas and was our worst game of the year," Heilman said. "Each year, there's going to be a game where you can't do anything right and a game where you can't do anything wrong. That was our bad one.

"Still, I'm not going to pretend to be happy because we lost by 13 instead of 42. We came out here tonight to win," he added.

The 37-37 deadlock was the ninth and final tie of the night. SRU's biggest lead was 31-24 with 2:09 left in the first half.

Gannon went on a 9-0 run from there to take a 33-31 lead at intermission.

"I was disappointed with the way we finished the half," Heilman said. "That spurt probably helped them get into the game more than it hurt our confidence.

"We showed we can play at that level and we have to work on our consistency."

The bulk of SRU's offensive production came from senior post players Erin Frankovich and Stacey Green. Frankovich had 21 points and 10 rebounds, Green 19 points and seven boards.

Except for an Amber McFeely free throw with 1:31 to play, Frankovich and Green scored every Rock point in the second half.

"We still haven't quite figured out our guard rotation yet," Heilman said. "Our guards are all in a stack right now and we have to sort them out.

"We have to cut down on our turnovers and get more points from the perimeter, that's for sure."

SRU had 21 turnovers to Gannon's 11.

"Their two post players concerned me coming in because we're very young at those positions," Wright said. "Their screens hurt us, but our young players learned a lot tonight.

"Slippery Rock likes shooting the three and we took that away. Their guards penetrated the paint and dished off in the first half. We limited that penetration in the second half and gave them trouble."

Sophomore forward Christina Jackson paced the Knights with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

SRU plays Shepherd (W.Va.) in the Findlay (Ohio) Tournament at 8 p.m. Friday. The Rock's next home game is next Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Fairmont State (W.Va.).

GANNON (68

Casey England 3-9 0-0 9, Jen Gwin 6-15 2-3 14, Melanie Duncan 1-2 0-0 2, Emily Thornbury 2-3 6-7 11, Christina Jackson 7-17 4-6 18, Holly Earl 0-0 0-0 0, Beth Kraus 3-6 1-1 7, Lauren Billingsley 10-3 0-0 3, Ashley Lowdermilk 2-4 0-0 4, Lisa Fairman 0-3 0-0 0, Katie Kibby 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-62 13-17 68

SLIPPERY ROCK (55)

Amber McFeely 2-6 1-2 6, Angela Greaser 0-2 0-0 0, Stacey Green 9-16 0-1 19, Kristen Bonner 1-7 0-0 3, Erin Frankovich 9-9 3-7 21, Sarah Cybulski 0-0 0-0 0, Amanda Chojnacki 0-3 2-3 2, Jess Caso 2-4 0-0 4, Cathy Lee Peffer 0-1 0-0 0, KellyAnn Staudinger 0-0 0-0 0, Shawnette Patterson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-49 6-13 55

Halftime - Gannon, 33-31. 3-point goals - Gannon 5-18 (England 3-9, Gwin 0-3, Duncan 0-1, Thornbury 1-2, Kraus 0-1, Billingsley 1-1, Lowdermilk 0-1), SRU 3-11 (McGFeely 1-2, Greaser 0-1, Green 1-2, Bonner 1-5, Peffer 0-1). Rebounds - Gannon 41 (Jackson 11), SRU 32 (Frankovich 10). Assists - Gannon 16 (Gwin 11), SRU 16 (McFeely 9). Total fouls - Gannon 16, SRU 17. Fouled out - None ; Technical fouls - none.