SLIPPERY ROCK — Erica Aiello pounded her chest after she drained a clutch 3-pointer in the second half.

D’Asia Chambers clapped her hands and pumped her fist after one of her many smooth fade-away jumpers in the paint.

For at least this night, the Slippery Rock University women’s basketball team looked anything but the team that had started the season 1-5 and were thought to be run out of its own gym by No. 2-ranked Gannon University.

The Rock still lost — Aiello’s 3-point attempt coming up wide left at the buzzer — but it certainly held its own in a 76-73 loss to the Golden Knights at Morrow Field House Wednesday night.

“We didn’t get scared because they were the No. 2 team,” Chambers said. “This definitely was a wake-up call for us. This should prove to us that we can play with any team in the conference.”

Several times throughout the game it looked like Gannon (7-0 overall, 3-0 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-West) was going to blow the game open.

After SRU started the game with a 6-0 lead, Gannon went on a 13-0 run.

The Rock (1-6, 0-3) didn’t crumble.

The Golden Knights went on an 11-0 run later in the half, but SRU was undaunted, out-scoring Gannon 42-32 in the second half.

“Sometimes you just have to survive a game,” said Gannon coach Jim Brunelli, who just returned with his team from a trip to Hawaii last week. “Especially when you only have one day to prepare for a scrappy team like Slippery Rock. They’re going to win games. They are going to stun some people because they play hard.”

Chambers was dominant, especially in the second half when she poured in 21 of her game-high 30 points.

Chambers was 14-of-25 shooting on the night.

When told she had 30 points, Chambers displayed a look of extreme shock.

“I didn’t know at all,” Chambers said. “I pray a lot. I ask God to let me play and our team play to the best of our ability.”

SRU’s prayers weren’t quite answered.

Slippery Rock coach Tanya Longo doesn’t believe in moral victories, but if she did, this one would certainly count.

“That was the best performance of this program since I’ve been here, by far,” Longo said. “Execution. Focus. Effort. All of those intangible things. And those are the things we can control, which is exciting.”

Aidan Geise added 15 points for The Rock, which committed 15 turnovers in the first half, but just five in the second half.

Gannon had five players crack double digits, led by Jen Papich with 16 points.

Both Longo and Chambers hope this will launch The Rock toward something good as the season moved along.

“We played about as flawless a half of basketball as we can play,” Longo said. “It just shows me where we are in this program, and we are stepping up when we need to. This just proved a lot to them tonight.”

GANNON 76

Jen Papich 6-12 4-7 16, Nettie Blake 4-10 2-3 10, Kelley Sundberg 5-10 0-0 11, Brittany Batts 5-7 0-0 14, Doriyon Glass 0-7 4-4 4, Amanda Berchtold 1-3 0-0 2, Brianna Brennan 1-2 0-0 2, Morgan Neighbors 4-7 4-5 15, Jennie Thies 0-0 0-0 0, Mollie Sebald 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 27-63 14-19 76.

SRU 73

Jazmyne Frost 4-6 0-0 8, D’Asia Chambers 14-25 2-3 30, Erica Aiello 4-9 0-0 9, Aidan Geise 4-8 4-5 15, Megan Mardiman 3-6 1-1 9, Kara Houppert 1-4 0-0 2, Danielle Garroutte 0-0 0-0 0, Rebecca Olkosky 0-1 0-0 0, Kaylee Bush 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 30-59 7-9 73.

Halftime score: Gannon 44-31

3-point goals: Gannon 8-22 (Papich 0-1, Sundberg 1-2, Batts 4-5, Glass 0-4, Brennan 0-1, Neighbors 3-5, Sebald 0-4). SRU 6-17 (Aiello 1-4, Geise 3-6, Hardiman 2-4, Houppert 0-2, Olkosky 0-1)