HADLEY - The strategy was working to near perfection.

Slippery Rock's man-to-man defense had Villa Maria's offense stymied, holding the Victors to just nine points in the game's first 12 minutes.

Foul trouble and an injury forced the Rockets into a zone defense in the second half, however, and Villa Maria rallied for a 47-44 victory in an opening round District 10 Class AAA girls basketball playoff game Saturday at Commodore Perry High School.

The loss ended the Lady Rockets' season at 17-8.

"They had a big advantage on us in size inside and we couldn't let them get the ball in there," Slippery Rock coach Gene Rodgers said. "Our plan was to pressure the ball up high and deny that."

And that plan was working. The Rockets used an 8-0 run to build a 16-6 lead with 5:32 left in the first half. Then sophomore and leading scorer Jence Rhoads picked up her third personal foul.

Early in the third quarter, starters Casey McCaffrey and Emily Skoczlas picked up their third fouls. With Slippery Rock leading 32-25 and three minutes left in the third quarter, starter Abby Basta injured an ankle and had to leave the game.

"We had no choice. We had to switch to a zone to keep our players in the game," Rodgers said.

Villa Maria (20-5) took advantage, going on a 17-3 run to assume a 41-35 lead with 3:33 remaining in the contest.

"Our big girls stepped it up and began making shots inside that we were missing earlier," Villa Maria coach Scott Dibble said. "If we make our lay-ups in the first half, we probably win this game by double digits.

"But that's basketball. You never know what's going to happen."

Stephanie Prischak, a 5-foot-10 senior, scored 11 of the Victors' 14 points in the third quarter. Nicolle DiRaimo, a 5-11 senior, scored nine of her team's 15 points in the fourth quarter.

But Slippery Rock didn't go away. Rhoads nearly willed the team to victory by herself.

She hit a pair of jumpers to pull the Rockets within 41-39 with 2:02 to play. She hit another jumper to cut the gap to 43-41 with 1:30 left.

With a minute to go, Rhoads drained a 3-pointer to give the Rockets a 44-43 lead.

"She's a special player," Rodgers said. "It's easy to forget she's only a sophomore and sometimes she makes sophomore mistakes.

"Picking up that third foul in the first half was one of those mistakes. But she more than made up for it."

Slippery Rock had a chance to extend the lead, but Rhoads missed the front end of a one-and-one with 46 seconds to go. It was the third errant one-and-one free throw by the Rockets in the fourth quarter.

Senior guard Ashley Madigan's jumper gave Villa Maria a 45-44 lead with 17 seconds left. Two free throws by sophomore Amy Oldach hiked that margin to three with eight seconds to go.

"Amy's our best free throw shooter," Dibble said. "No doubt in my mind, she was going to make those shots."

Villa Maria sank seven of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter. Slippery Rock sank one of five.

Rhoads missed on a 3-point shot in the closing seconds. McCaffrey and Robin Craig snared offensive rebounds inside the arc, but couldn't convert before time expired.

Rhoads led all scorers with 27 points and grabbed eight of 39 Slippery Rock rebounds. McCaffrey had nine boards and Craig eight points and six rebounds. Craig did not score in the second half.

"Jence Rhoads is a tremendous player and we weren't gonna stop her," Dibble said. "If she got 25, our goal was to hold the rest of the team to under 25 and we did that."

Prischak had 18 points for Villa Maria with DiRaimo adding 16 points and 10 rebounds. Lauren Kubinski, a 6-0 senior, had 11 of her team's 30 rebounds.

Slippery Rock was plagued by 22 turnovers and bowed out in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year.

"We lose Robin Craig and Emily Skoczlas (to graduation) and we'll miss them," Rodgers said. "But we have a lot of kids back. We'll get better."

"That team is going to be around for a while," Dibble agreed.

SLIPPERY ROCK 44

Robin Craig 3-8 2-2 8, Abbey Basta 0-3 0-0 0, Casey McCaffrey 2-8 1-2 5, Emily Skoczlas 2-4 0-0 4, Jence Rhoads 12-23 2-4 27, Ashley Brown 0-0 0-1 0, Jessica Fry 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 19-48 5-9 44

VILLA MARIA 47

Megan Hoffman 1-4 0-0 2, Amy Oldach 0-3 2-2 2, Ashley Madigan 2-6 0-2 4, Lauren Kubinski 2-8 1-2 5, Ashley Rabell 0-0 0-0 0, Stephanie Prischak 7-17 2-2 18, Nicolle DiRaimo 4-12 8-11 16. Totals: 16-50 13-18 47

3-point goals:

Rhoads; Prischak 2