SLIPPERY ROCK — Jence Rhoads' 3-pointer hit the front of the rim and rolled in and out at the buzzer.

And with that miss, the District 10, Region 5 playoff seeding got a whole lot foggier.

The Slippery Rock High School girls basketball team couldn't overcome a dreadful second quarter. Rhoads tried her best to will a Rockets' victory, but like her shot, her team fell short in a 47-44 loss to Meadville at the Rock Box Monday night.

That puts Slippery Rock (18-5, 9-2) in second place in the region, a half-game behind Meadville (18-5, 10-2) and ahead of Franklin (17-6, 9-2).

With a win against Oil City Thursday and if Franklin wins its region finale, the Rockets will be deadlocked with Franklin and Meadville. The Rockets have beaten Franklin twice, Franklin has beaten Meadville twice and the Bulldogs have now beaten Slippery Rock twice.

"This is what we needed, because now it is log jam," said Meadville coach Dean Henderson. "I don't know how they are going to figure out who is the No. 1 seed."

That's a quandary Slippery Rock coach Gene Rodgers hoped to help the District 10 committee to avoid.

If the Rockets could have beaten the Bulldogs, they would have put themselves in great position to win the league.

As it is now, Slippery Rock needs to beat Oil City Thursday to force a three-way tie.

"With District 10, I'm not sure," Rodgers said. "All I know is we have to beat Oil City on Thursday and worry about that later. I think everyone is the same, overall record-wise. But I know our exhibition schedule is probably tougher than the other two. Will that matter? I don't know."

Slippery Rock shot out to a 17-8 lead after the first quarter, but was dealing with foul trouble.

Casey McCaffrey picked up her second foul with six minutes remaining in the first period and sat the rest of the half. Jessica Fry, who had six points in the first eight minutes, picked up her third foul late in the first quarter and sat out the rest of the half.

Meadville scored the first 10 points of the second quarter and the final 10 to take a 28-19 lead into halftime.

"It all boils down to a 20-2 second quarter," Rodgers said. "I don't care what happened in the second half. There's no excuse for what happened in the second quarter."

Rhoads, who had only four points in the first half, scored 12 in the second half.

She helped Slippery Rock erase a 10-point deficit to tie the game at 42 with 5:53 remaining in the contest.

But the Rockets couldn't wrest the lead away from the Bulldogs, who killed Slippery Rock on the offensive glass.

"That was a problem the last time we played them," Rodgers said of Meadville's 55-45 win a month ago. "I thought we prepared for it, but everyone was just standing around. I'd rather have two girls fight over the ball and get a traveling call."

Slippery Rock had its chances late in the game.

Rhoads and McCaffrey each missed a 3-pointer with less than a minute left, and, after Leah Hardin missed her second free throw with five second remaining, Rhoads had a chance to tie it at the buzzer.

"She's a legitimate player," Henderson said. "She had the ability to take over a game, and she did that in the second half."

But it wasn't enough.

Now, the Rockets must win Thursday and wait and see.

They could be the No. 1 seed or as low as No. 3.

The same is true of Meadville.

"We all can stake a claim to being the No. 1 seed," Henderson said. "There's no rule for breaking a tie like this. It will be interesting to see what they do."

MEADVILLE 47Ivy Deegan 2-4 0-1 4, Asia Foster 0-4 3-5 3, Leah Hardin 6-13 2-3 14, Casey Heller 2-8 0-0 5, Jackie Defemer 0-4 0-2 0, Lindsay Heller 2-4 0-0 4, Abby Henderson 6-12 1-2 16. Totals: 18-49 6-12 47

SLIPPERY ROCK 44Abby Basta 2-4 3-4 7, Danielle Drake 1-1 0-0 2, Shanea Raabe 1-3 2-2 4, Jence Rhoads 8-25 0-0 16, Casey McCaffrey 4-10 1-1 9, Jenna Rinker 0-5 0-0 0, Jessica Fry 3-6 0-0 6. Totals: 19-53 6-7 44

3-point goals: Henderson 3, Casey Heller

JV: Meadville 53-17

Thursday: Oil City at Slippery Rock