SLIPPERY ROCK — In two years, maybe this loss will sting a little less.

But on Saturday night, this defeat ached pretty bad to the Slippery Rock High girls basketball team.

The sophomore-laden Rockets watched a four-point lead late in the first half quickly turn into an insurmountable deficit in a 59-41 loss to senior-filled Meadville at Morrow Field House in the first round of the District 10 Class AAA playoffs.

"A loss is not final unless it is fatal," said Slippery Rock coach Adrienne Orris. "As long as we learn from it. Maybe when we're seniors, we'll be thanking Meadville for teaching us a lesson in that first round."

The lesson Saturday was runs kill in the playoffs.

After falling behind 22-18 with 2:25 remaining in the second quarter, Meadville (19-6) scored 17 of the next 19 points to take a double-digit advantage. That lead never dropped below nine and got as big as 21 late in the game.

Slippery Rock (17-8), which shot 6-of-8 from the floor in the first quarter, hit only seven of its 31 shots in the final three quarters.

"We weren't scoring," Orris said. "We haven't run into that problem very often. We don't know what to do when we're not scoring."

Part of that was the way the Bulldogs played Slippery Rock. Meadville was determined to keep the Rockets in a half-court game — an area that was not their strong suit this season.

Meadville, which has seven seniors on the roster, was also determined not to lose to a roster full of sophomores.

"I think that had something to do with it," said Meadville coach DeanHenderson. "We're pretty much all seniors and they are all sophomores. I told the girls at halftime, 'Are you going to let a bunch of sophomores throw you out in the last game of your senior season?'"

The answer was an emphatic, "No."

Jackie DeReemer scored 18 points and Lindsay Heller added 12 for the Bulldogs, who held Slippery Rock to just two points in the third quarter to put the game well out of reach.

KarlyRhoads scored 16 points to lead Slippery Rock.

The Rockets were also slowed by injuries and foul trouble.

When Sarah Cessar was on the floor, she was playing with a bulky back brace and the inability to bend over. When she came to the bench, she stood.

Cessar, Ali Doyle and Adele Campbell were in foul trouble almost from the opening tip. All three eventually fouled out.

"That's the first game all year where I've had that many girls foul out," Orris said. "We knew at the beginning of the year that one of our goals was going to be not to foul out girls. We had 10 games in a row where we didn't have a single girl foul out."

That left an already thin roster even thinner.

But by then, it was moot.

Meadville will take on a familiar foe in Mercyhurst Prep Wednesday at a site and time to be determined. The two teams have already played twice this season.

The only solace Orris has is that her entire roster returns. Most of the sophomores on the roster have already played 54 varsity games in two seasons.

"In two years, watch out," Henderson said. "Like I told (Orris), she's going to be where I am with all these seniors in two years."

MEADVILLE 59Jackie DeReemer 5-10 8-9 18, Lindsay Heller 6-12 0-0 12, Abby Henderson 2-6 6-8 10, Arianna Waid 1-4 2-2 4, Amanda Schreck 3-4 0-0 6, Emily Motillo 3-6 2-3 8, Alyssa Gerhart 0-2 0-0 0, Toni Fiedler 0-0 0-2 0, Amy Walker 0-0 1-4 1, Carrie DeWalt 0-0 0-0 0, Samantha Boratyn 0-1 0-0 0, Danielle Cappellino 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-45 19-28 59

SLIPPERYROCK 41Karly Rhoads 4-13 7-8 16, Ali Doyle 0-4 1-2 1, Kourtney Rhoads 3-9 0-0 8, Adele Campbell 4-5 0-0 8, Sarah Cessar 2-4 2-2 6, Paige Walter 0-0 2-3 2, Taylor Crocker 0-1 0-0 0, Heather Finecey 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-36 12-15 41

Meadville 13 14 16 16—59Slippery Rock 15 9 2 15—413-point goals: Karly Rhoads, Kourtney Rhoads 2