FARRELL — Eight minutes away from claiming its second District 10 title in three years, the Slippery Rock girls basketball team hit the skids on both ends of the court.

The Rockets failed to score in the first four minutes, 46 seconds of the final quarter. Meanwhile, Grove City grabbed the lead, then iced a 52-41 victory from the free throw line in the Class 5A final at Farrell High School Saturday afternoon.

“We didn't execute when we needed to,” said Slippery Rock coach Amber Osborn. “We had some uncharacteristic mistakes on defense, watched McDowell (Katie, Grove City forward) get three straight rebounds on one possession and were leaving players wide open under the basket.”

The Rockets had defeated the Eagles in both regular-season meetings between the Region 5 rivals by scores of 55-45 and 45-37.

“The difference was that we never let them go on a crippling run today,” said Eagles' coach Chris Burtch. “In those earlier games, they'd score a few baskets in a row and we were never able to come back. Today, every time there was a chance of that happening, we would score.”

The Rockets led after each of the first three quarters, including 20-16 at halftime. Grove City grabbed its first lead since early in the first quarter with McDowell's bucket that put the Eagles up 24-23 with 4:40 left in the third.

Baskets from Anna Kadlubek and Hallie Raabe and a 3-pointer from Ella McDermott helped the Rockets lead by the slimmest of margins, 30-29, after three quarters.

Becca Santom, Grove City's leading scorer this season, drained two baskets in the first two minutes of the final period and the Eagles were back on top.

Just as important, however, was Slippery Rock's drought on the offensive end. The Rockets finally received points with McDermott's trey that cut the Eagles' lead to 38-33 with 3:13 left in the game. Kadlubek hit two free throws and later converted a conventional 3-point play. Both efforts trimmed Slippery Rock's deficit to four points, as did a basket from Bronwyn McCoy, but that's as close as the Rockets would get.

Slippery Rock attempted 13 shots in the fourth quarter and made just three of them. Several turnovers did not help its cause.

“I said earlier that defense was going to win this tournament,” Burtch said. “Lately, it feels like when we get a lead late, we hang onto it. That was the case in our win over Warren (53-45 in the semifinals).”

Osborn saw an ominous sign even before the decisive fourth quarter began.

“In the third quarter, we're up by two points, and I saw a defeated look in our players' eyes,” she said. “Our girls knew this was a 50/50 game and they came in here extremely nervous.”

Becca Santom led all scorers with 20 points, but the Eagles received a boost from a reserve, junior forward Alli Lewis.

With 1:05 left in the game and her team nursing a 43-39 lead, Lewis rebounded a missed free throw from teammate Emma Santom, was fouled and drained a pair of attempts from the line for a 45-39 edge.

Lewis scored all nine of her points in the fourth period.

“All three games in the playoffs, she's made big plays for us,” said Burtch. “I wasn't able to get her in the game in the first half because (McDowell) was playing so well, but we had to change things up in the second half and put Alli in.”

Grove City's district championship is its first since 1993. On this day, the Eagles (22-3) were on the right side of the belief that it's very difficult to beat a good team three times in one season.

“I don't think anyone on our end was thinking about the three-game thing coming in here,” said Burtch. “It was just, maybe we're going to be a bit better this time.”

Kadlubek scored 15 points to pace the Rockets (18-7), who will begin play in the state playoffs next Saturday against District 6's Hollidaysburg.

“You either bounce back or you don't,” said Osborn, “but this is definitely going to sting for a while.

“I know our kids can play better than they played today.”

SLIPPERY ROCK 41

Anna Kadlubek 5 3-3 15, Hallie Raabe 2 1-2 5, Kelly Benson 2 0-0 4, Ella McDermott 3 0-0 8, Bronwyn McCoy 4 0-1 9, Gianna Bedel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 4-6 41.

GROVE CITY 52

Emma Santom 1 4-6 6, Becca Santom 7 6-8 20, Clara Hannon 3 2-2 9, Katie McDowell 3 1-4 8, Alli Lewis 2 5-6 9, Mackenzie Haggart 0 0-0 0, Hannah Reiber 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 18-26 52.

Slippery Rock 14 6 10 11 — 41

Grove City10 6 13 23 — 52

3-point goals: Slippery Rock 5 (Kadlubek 2, McDermott 2, McCoy); Grove City 2 (Hannon, McDowell).

Saturday: Slippery Rock vs. Hollidaysburg, PIAA Class 5A first round, 6:30 p.m. at Farrell HS