SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — That's why they play the game.

The odds of Slippery Rock's girls basketball team winning Thursday night seemed long at best. The Rockets were without their leading scorer and rebounder, junior Marissa Siebka, who has been lost for the season with a torn ACL in her left knee. On top of that, a strong Grove City team was coming to the Rock Box.

But the upset-minded Rockets meshed a stingy defense with unwavering determination to pull out a 42-40 win over their rivals.

“Not having Marissa is a huge loss for us. She can do so many things well on the court,” said sophomore guard Jenna Whitmer, who led Slippery Rock with 16 points and four steals. “We all knew we had to step it up because we were playing a good team.”

“We talked to the girls about facing adversity and then told them to just go out and have fun,” said Rockets' coach John Tabisz.

The Rockets trailed 40-33 with 2:25 left in the game before Steph Croll drained a pair of 3-pointers to bring her team to within 40-39. An Eagle turnover led to Whitmer's 3-point attempt, during which she was fouled with exactly one minute remaining. She stepped to the foul line and buried all three attempts for the game's final points.

Grove City's last two possessions ended in a turnover, the final one just before the buzzer. The Eagles (8-3, 1-1) had called a timeout with just 1.9 seconds left. They attempted a cross-court inbound pass to Brenna Deyarmin, but the junior forward could not handle the ball and it skipped out of bounds.

Deyarmin was the obvious choice to take the last shot. She scored 24 of Grove City's 40 points, including six 3-pointers.

“Brenna made a lot of shots for us tonight,” said Eagles' coach T.L. Eller. “I thought she had done enough for us to pull out a win, but hats off to Slippery Rock. They made big shots and came up with big defensive stops.”

Turnovers proved costly to the Eagles all night long. Six of them in the first quarter helped the Rockets lead 13-8 after eight minutes. In the fourth period, Grove City had as many turnovers (five) as it did points.

Eller attributed a lot of her team's miscues to aggressive play from the Rockets (7-4, 2-0).

“They brought man-to-man pressure,” she said. “We haven't seen much of that this season. It seems like everybody is falling back into a zone because of all the fouls that they're calling.”

With his team facing a 35-28 deficit entering the fourth period, Tabisz knew his defense needed to buckle down.

“It was a team effort in that fourth quarter,” he said. “Grove City is a tough matchup for us. Deyarmin is a very good player, but we made one more basket than they did.”

With Siebka on the bench, the Rockets need another leader to emerge. Whitmer may be soft-spoken, but her play makes her a worthy candidate.

“She's good offensively and defensively,” Tabisz said. “She can guard, rebound and handle the ball.”

Croll scored 11 points for the Rockets.

GROVE CITY 40

Rachel Hughes 2 0-0 4, Danyelle Lucido 2 0-0 5, Jordyn Wyllie 2 0-0 4, Alexis Deyarmin 1 1-2 3, Brenna Deyarmin 9 0-1 24, Abby Fulkerson 0 0-2 0, Catie Jaskowak 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 1-5 40.

SLIPPERY ROCK 42

Jenna Whitmer 5 3-3 16, Hannah Willison 3 0-0 6, Bailey Boyd 1 0-1 2, Macy McCall 3 1-2 7, Steph Croll 4 0-0 11, Elena McDermott 0 0-0 0, Lily Weitzel 0 0-0 0, Brynn Horner 0 0-0 0, Hope Schnell 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 4-6 42.

Grove City 8 12 15 5 — 40

Slippery Rock13 7 8 14 — 42

3-point goals: Grove City 7 (B. Deyarmin 6, Lucido); Slippery Rock 6 (Whitmer 3, Croll 3).

Saturday: Our Lady of Sacred Heart at Slippery Rock

Monday: Meadville at Grove City