SLIPPERY ROCK — The Slippery Rock University women’s basketball team shot well and rebounded well.

What The Rock didn’t do so well was take care of the basketball and keep Clarion University off the scoreboard.

SRU committed 22 turnovers, including several costly ones late, and Clarion converted them into 27 points as The Rock fell 95-80 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-West opener at Morrow Field House Wednesday night.

“At least we have a different story tonight,” said Slippery Rock coach Tanya Longo.

Different story. Same result.

The Rock (0-4, 0-1) put up a valiant fight against a Clarion team that is rebuilding on the fly around an up-tempo attack.

The Golden Eagles (2-1, 1-0) used an 18-0 run to build a 33-14 lead with six minutes remaining in the first half, but SRU answered with a 16-3 run to trail by eight at the half.

“I wasn’t happy in the first half, that’s for sure,” said Clarion coach Gie Parsons. “Not with anything.”

The longtime coach, who is a 1971 graduate of SRU and who has now won 453 games in her career, certainly was pleased with things in the second half.

The Golden Eagles scored 57 points in the final 20 minutes and pulled away from Slippery Rock late.

The Rock had taken a brief 60-59 lead midway through the second half before Clarion regained the advantage and pulled away for good.

“We must have said something right at halftime,” Parsons said. “I give Slippery Rock a lot of credit. They came out in the middle of the first half and we gave them life and they really responded well to that. They’re going to win some games this year.”

Jazmyne Frost had another big game for SRU. The 6-foot senior center scored 19 of her game-high 21 points in the second half. She also added 12 rebounds, including seven on the offensive boards.

“You can’t ask for more than that from a center,” Longo said.

Aidan Geise had the hot hand for The Rock in the first half with her awkward shot and big smile. The 5-11 sophomore swing player drained five 3-pointers and scored 18 points in the first 20 minutes.

Longo beamed when talking about Geise.

“Aidan loves the game and that’s her shot,” Longo said. “It goes in a lot. She’s getting it done. I told her, it’s not a pretty shot, but I don’t care what it looks like.”

What Longo does care about is getting wins, something that has eluded SRU this season.

“One day at a time,” Longo said. “Obviously, we addressed some things with our shooting, our shot selection and the numbers show it. There’s going to be a focus on our defense and taking care of the basketball.”

CLARION 95

Jasmine Boyd 4-9 5-6 13, Jen Straw 2-3 2-2 6, Tania Holmes 3-9 8-11 14, Raven Jones 4-9 1-1 10, Emma Fickel 6-16 3-3 18, Kelly Johnson 6-14 4-7 19, Cara Cook 1-2 0-0 3, Delrika Jones-Carey 0-0 0-0 0, Maria Taylor 3-5 2-4 8, Chelsea Newman 2-3 0-0 4. Totals: 31-70.

SLIPPERY ROCK 80

Jazmyne Frost 6-12 9-9 21, D’Asia Chambers 3-10 1-2 7, Erica Aiello 5-11 0-0 13, Aidan Geise 6-12 1-1 18, Megan Hardiman 2-5 2-3 6, Bridget McClure 0-0 0-0 0, Jara Houppert 4-6 1-2 10, Rebecca Olkosky 1-6 2-2 5, Kaylee Bush 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 27-62 16-19 80.

Halftime score: Clarion 38-30

3-point goals: Clarion 8-21 (Holmes 0-3, Jones 1-1, Fickel 3-9, Johnson 3-7, Cook 1-1). Slippery Rock 10-20 (Chambers 0-1, Aiello 3-5, Geise 5-7, Hardiman 0-1, Houppert 1-2, Olkosky 1-4)