Slippery Rock takes private Rhoads to victory
NEW WILMINGTON — Strong rebounding, tight defense, reliable ball-handling … There are plenty of roads to take to basketball playoff success.
Slippery Rock took a private Rhoads Saturday.
Junior guard Jence Rhoads produced 24 points, six assists, five blocked shots, five rebounds and four steals to lead the Lady Rockets to a 43-35 District 10 Class AAA girls basketball playoff win over defending state champion Mercyhurst Prep at Westminster College.
"Jence is just Jence," Slippery Rock coach Gene Rodgers said. "You almost take for granted what she's going to do on the court every game.
"She plays so smoothly that you don't realize the numbers she's piling up."
Rhoads has scored more than 1,400 points in her high school career — and knew she better score some more Saturday when Mercyhurst Prep scored the first six points of the third quarter to take a 26-21 lead.
Slippery Rock (20-5) had a 14-7 lead after the first quarter as Rhoads scored 10 points. That lead shrunk to 21-20 by halftime as Rhoads netted just a single point in the second period.
"They had taken the momentum away from us (in the third quarter)," Rhoads said. "We needed to start scoring some points … I figured it might as well be me."
Rhoads canned a pair of jumpers on consecutive possessions to pull the Rockets within 27-26. She then answered a Mercyhurst bucket by stealing the ball in the back-court and racing the other way for a lay-up.
Still, the Lakers (13-12) managed a 30-27 lead through three quarters.
Mercyhurst coach Father Rick Tomasone wasn't convinced, though his team held a strong size advantage on Slippery Rock.
"Watch the NCAA telecasts and you hear it over and over. Basketball becomes a guard's game in the tournament," Tomasone said. "And they've got a pretty good guard.
"It's unfair to look at Rhoads as just a scorer. You can wear a player down that way. Wear her legs down and the scoring stops. But that girl always makes good decisions with the ball. We feared her passing more than her shooting."
Those fears were realized in the fourth quarter.
A Kristen Fournier lay-up gave the Lakers a 32-31 lead with 5:52 left in the game. The Rockets went on an 11-0 run from there to win going away.
"Jence is such an unselfish player," Rodgers said. "She knows she needs her teammates to win. And her teammates finished plays."
Rhoads dished off to Jessica Fry inside, who laid the ball in for a 33-32 Slippery Rock lead. Rhoads dished off to Casey McCaffrey, who drained a baseline jumper.
Fry added two free throws with 1:31 left. Rhoads added two more with 55 seconds left and scored on a fast-break lay-up with 31 ticks on the clock, hiking the lead to 42-32.
When Lindsay Moore sank a meaningless trey with four seconds left, Mercyhurst ended a scoreless drought of five minutes, 48 seconds.But Slippery Rock had its first playoff win under third-year coach Rodgers."It's awesome," Rhoads said. "To beat a team like that … I don't even know what to say."When Abby (Basta) got hurt, it felt like déjà vu, but we stuck together and got it done."Basta, one of only three seniors on the Rockets, suffered an ankle injury late in the first half and never returned. She was injured in similar fashion in last year's first-round playoff loss to Villa Maria.Slippery Rock will face Villa Maria — a 57-28 winner over Oil City — in the second round of the district playoffs Wednesday at Slippery Rock University's Morrow Field House.Slippery Rock's other seniors made their presence felt Saturday. McCaffrey scored nine points and Fry grabbed 10 rebounds.Kelly Nowacinski paced the Lakers with nine points, all in the third quarter. Anne Ryan had 12 rebounds and Fournier 10.Mercyhurst held a 33-28 edge in rebounding and had 10 turnovers to Slippery Rock's eight.MERCYHURST PREP 35Lindsay Moore 2-6 0-0 5, Kristen Fournier 3-13 0-0 6, Kelly Nowacinski 4-13 0-0 9, Kristen Stenicki 0-2 0-0 0, Anne Ryan 3-8 1-4 7, Courey Schaetzle 4-9 0-0 8, Kirsten Olowinski 0-1 0-0 0, Chelsea Graml 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-52 1-4 35.SLIPPERY ROCK 43Abbey Basta 0-3 0-0 0, Danielle Drake 1-2 0-0 2, Shanea Raabe 1-2 1-2 3, Jence Rhoads 9-22 6-7 24, Casey McCaffrey 4-7 0-0 9, Jenna Rinker 0-1 1-2 1, Jessica Fry 1-3 2-4 4. Totals: 16-40 10-15 43.3-point goals:Moore, Nowacinski; McCaffreyWednesday:Slippery Rock vs. Villa Maria @ SRU's Morrow Field House
