SLIPPERY ROCK — Bobby McGraw made his team’s situation clear before Slippery Rock University’s women’s basketball team took on Clarion Wednesday night at Morrow Field House.

Losing to Clarion, which hasn’t won in 2015, would put The Rock in dire straights to earn a bid in the PSAC Conference Tournament.

Junior Megan Hardiman scored a personal season-high 14 points off the bench to help SRU earn a 68-57 PSAC West Division win.

The Rock played without second-leading scorer Taylor Siggers, who missed due to an injury and averages 10.5 points per game.

“I felt like I had the shot tonight, so when I had it, I took it,” said Hardiman, who averages 3.2 points per game. “If I was wide open, I was going to take it.”

It was the 14th straight loss for the Golden Eagles (1-17, 0-13) and snapped a five-game skid for The Rock.

“This is basically an elimination game,” McGraw said. “If we would have lost tonight, the chances of us making the conference tournament were very slim.”

Even with the win, SRU (7-10, 3-10) still has some climbing to do.

The Rock is two games behind Seton Hill University with nine games remaining.

Winning a division game was important to Hardiman.

“It gives us a big step in believing in ourselves,” Hardiman said. “We know when we can do it, we just need to prove to everyone else we can.”

The Rock first had to prove it could stop a hot-shooting Clarion team.

Tania Holmes, who scored a team-high 20 points, made a career-best six 3-pointers for the Golden Eagles.

Clarion made nine treys in the game and shot 57 percent (4-of-7) from behind the arc in the first half, taking a 31-29 lead.

“I gave them a motivational speech at halftime,” McGraw joked. “I got them motivated to guard the way we do in practice. They guarded the way we were capable of.”

The Rock limited Clarion to 25 percent (7-of-28) after halftime.

Both team’s traded baskets after halftime until SRU took control. Audrey Stapleton put The Rock ahead for good, 41-40, on two free throws with 13:56 remaining.

SRU also made all 14 of its free throws in the second half and shot 89 percent (23-of-26) for the game.

Stapleton’s free throws started a 6-0 run capped by a D’Asia Chambers jumper with 12:10 remaining.

Chambers finished with a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds after scoring five points in the first half.

“The team let me know they needed me to step up and that’s what I tried to do,” Chambers said.