SLIPPERY ROCK — A team made up entirely of sophomores and one freshman is going to experience its share of ups and downs.

The Slippery Rock High girls basketball team's latest game certainly featured plenty of both.

Following a 19-2 run to start Wednesday's home game against Hickory, the Rockets were outscored 50-42 the rest of the way, hanging on for a 61-52 win.

Slippery Rock (3-3, 1-1) entered the contest attempting to halt a two-game losing skid after losses to Franklin and Indiana.

The Franklin game was a region contest and the Rockets did not want to start 0-2 in conference play.

"It was important for us to get a win," said Slippery Rock coach Adrienne Orris. "It seems like we've had injuries every game, though tonight we got through the game OK.

"But we are not a healthy team right now, so it was a big win."

Leading the way for the Rockets were Karly and Kourtney Rhoads, who scored 23 and 19 points. respectively, for their highest combined output this season.

It was Karly Rhoads who spearheaded Slippery Rock's great start, as the sophomore scored 13 of her team's 23 first-quarter points.

But Hickory, which was down by 17 points with 2:52 left in the opening period, cut its deficit to 23-11 by the end of the quarter.

The rest of the game followed that pattern: Slippery Rock pushed its lead to 15 or 16 points before the Hornets (2-3, 0-1) charged back, sometimes cutting their deficit to single digits.

Leading 44-32 at the start of the final quarter, the Rockets turned to Kourtney Rhoads, who drained three 3-pointers in the first 3:38 of the period for a 57-41 lead.

Down 59-50 with 1:24 left in the game, Hickory again made a before its final push fizzled out.

"We continued to scrap, but every time we seemed to be ready to break through, Slippery Rock had an answer," said Hornets coach Jenette Whitehead.

Paige Walter, Ali Doyle, Taylor Crocker and the Rhoads sisters all came up with big baskets to stop Hickory's momentum during the course of the game.

Slippery Rock shot an impressive 56 percent from the field (23 of 41), but 23 turnovers helped to keep Hickory in the game.

"We made mistakes, and you expect that out of sophomores," said Orris. "But I thought we started to make better decisions tonight. We definitely cut down on the number of poor decisions."

Hickory's catalyst was guard Wilma Phillips, who netted a game-high 25 points. Many of her baskets came on effective baseline drives.

HICKORY 52Kalie Gargano 3 2-2 8, Jonna Vellonte 0 2-2 2, Wilma Phillips 9 7-11 25, Ashley Marriott 0 1-2 1, Haley Hanson 1 2-2 4, Kelsey Trosch 4 2-3 10, Carly Turk 1 0-0 2.

Totals: 18 16-22 52.

SLIPPERY ROCK 61Karly Rhoads 9 4-5 23, Ali Doyle 2 0-0 5, Kourtney Rhoads 7 1-4 19, Adele Campbell 1 0-0 2, Taylor Crocker 3 1-1 8, Paige Walter 1 0-0 3, Molly Weitzel 0 1-2 1, Kelcey Schaum 0 0-0 0, Katja Kauffman 0 0-0 0, Heather Finery 0 0-0 0, Sarah Cessar 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 23 7-12 61.

Hickory 11 7 14 20—52Slippery Rock 23 7 14 17—613-point goals: Slippery Rock 8 (Ko. Rhoads 4, Walter, Crocker, Doyle, Ka. Rhoads).

Friday: Sharon at Slippery Rock