SLIPPERY ROCK - There was a running clock during the final three minutes of the game because of an impending power outage at Slippery Rock University.

The lights were turned out on Erie East long before that.

The Slippery Rock High School girls basketball team scored the first 12 points of the game and led by 24 at the half on the way to a 51-34 win over the Warriors at Morrow Field House Tuesday night.

Because of a downed utility pole near campus, officials were told with three minutes remaining in the game that the power would be cut to the arena within 10 minutes.

Officials decided to keep the clock running, and Erie East coach Dan Scully lamented the decision.

"The power outage was very unfortunate," Scully said. "We had it down to 16 points with three minutes left. Against Sharon, we were down by 17 with the same amount of time remaining and we cut it to five. I'm not saying we would have won, but we have the ability to do it."

Erie East (0-3) had to launch a furious comeback late because of how careless it was with the basketball early.

Through the first four minutes of the game, the Warriors committed 10 turnovers, attempted only one shot and were down 10-0.

Slippery Rock (3-0) forced 26 turnovers in the contest.

"It was a good start for us," said Rockets coach Gene Rodgers. "We want to go out and control tempo and force turnovers to get easy baskets."

Slippery Rock was very good at getting easy baskets early.

Robin Craig was particularly lethal. The senior guard scored 14 points and barely broke a sweat, sitting out most of the second half.

Her cohort, Jence Rhoads, also had 14 points, with most coming in the paint on steals.

"Robin is a very good shooter for us," Rodgers said. "The way she has been shooting lately, we feel real confident it is going to go in."

The Rockets were 25-of-47 from the floor in the game.

With many of the starters on the bench, Erie East made a second half push.

Brittney Graham scored 16 of her game-high 18 points in the second half for the Warriors, including her team's final 10.

Rodgers wasn't too concerned about the Erie East run.

"We wanted to play a little bit without Jence out there," Rodgers said. "We are going to see teams who are going to try to take her out of the game."

The Slippery Rock boys game against Fort LeBoeuf, which was to be played after the girls game, was canceled because of the power problems.

ERIE EAST 34

Pam Oduho 1-3 1-3 3, Cassie Jones 3-7 0-0 6, Erin Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, Tierra Wayne 0-2 0-0 0, Brittney Graham 7-13 4-5 18, Tiffany Sedor 1-3 0-0 2, Angela Taylor 0-3 0-0 0, Kristi Ewanick 2-2 0-0 4, Alyssa Cooley 0-1 1-2 1, Brittany Morgan 0-0 0-0 0, Stephanie Gambill 0-0 0-0 0, Delores McClellan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-35 6-10 34

SLIPPERY ROCK 51

Robin Craig 7-11 0-0 14, Abby Basta 4-9 0-0 8, Casey McCaffrey 3-5 0-0 6, Emily Skoczlas 2-11 1-2 5, Jence Rhoads 7-9 0-1 14, Ashley Brown 1-1 0-0 2, Danielle Drake 0-0 0-0 0, Jessica Fry 1-1 0-0 2, Shanea Raabe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-47 1-3 51

Thursday:

Mercer @ Slippery Rock