EDINBORO - Warren girls basketball coach Matt Madigan shook his head, smiled and searched for an explanation for what had just occurred.

"I don't even know how we did it," Madigan said. "But we did."

What Warren did wasn't as intriguing as how it did it.

The Dragons took patient basketball to a whole new level against Slippery Rock at General McLane High School Saturday afternoon.

Warren slowly and methodically took the air out of the ball and out of the Rockets' turnaround season with a stunning 46-43 overtime win in the first round of the District 10, Class AAA playoffs.

"They slowed the game down to a snail's pace," said Slippery Rock coach Gene Rodgers. "I think every coach who plays us thinks the four-corners offense is the way to go. It works for them, but I prefer to teach the girls a little more offense."

The tactic worked. In the process, Warren got Slippery Rock into some major foul trouble.

Both senior center Danielle Hogue and sophomore guard Casey McCaffrey fouled out. Guards Abby Basta and Jence Rhoads both had four fouls heading into the overtime period.

That allowed Warren (12-13) to do all of its damage in the fourth quarter and overtime from the foul line.

All 11 of the Dragons' fourth-quarter points were scored from the free throw line. Five of their seven points in overtime came from the line.

Warren took just three shots in the final 20 minutes of the game. It didn't attempt one 3-pointer, instead looking inside or driving the lane.

"We knew Slippery Rock likes to run up and down the floor," Madigan said. "There was no way we wanted that to happen. We wanted to slow down the game as much as we could."

Slippery Rock (19-6) led just once in regulation at 4-3 late in the first quarter. After trailing most of the game by more than five points, Slippery Rock rallied in the fourth quarter, tying the score at 39 with 1:34 left on a pull-up jumper by Rhoads.

The freshman point guard single handedly willed Slippery Rock back into the game, scoring 10 of her game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter.

"She's a player - and she's only a freshman," Madigan said. "She took over the game. She made a lot of shots, and they weren't easy looks."

Warren, though, did a good job on Slippery Rock's other scoring threat, Robin Craig.

Craig was held to just seven points and hit only one 3-pointer.

"We knew she was their other scorer," Madigan said. "Rhoads is going to get her points, but we needed to keep Craig in check, and we did."

The Rockets led briefly 41-39 in the overtime period, but were outscored 7-2 the rest of the way.

Slippery Rock's motion offense never really got going because opportunities were slim.

The Rockets scored just four points in the first quarter, but took only eight shots. They also had some uncharacteristic, unforced turnovers.

"I told the girls every possession was valuable," Rodgers said. "Sometimes when you are in a slow-down game like this, you get impatient."

Slippery Rock had trouble with Warren's inside game. Kristen Decker, a 5-foot-11 sophomore, scored eight points and had 10 rebounds and 5-foot-8 senior Allie Heckler scored 10 points and also had 10 boards.

Katie Moore led the Dragons with 14 points.

The loss meant the end of a career for Danielle Hogue, who had watched the program win just 16 games in her first three years before winning 19 this season.

"It was nice for Danielle to experience this," Rodgers said. "She had been with the team when the program was struggling a little bit."