ERIE — Midway through the game, thoughts of an upset were there.

And when Taylor Siggers drove in for a layup to begin the second half, Slippery Rock University’s women’s basketball team trailed heavily favored Gannon only 23-21 Saturday afternoon at the Hammermill Center.

But the Golden Knights took off on an 11-0 run from there and rolled to a 66-48 victory in a first-round PSAC Tournament game.

“That first half was the best half of defense we’ve put together all year,” SRU coach and Mars graduate Bobby McGraw said. “But the game lasts 40 minutes. We couldn’t sustain it.

“They hit six three’s in the second half, some when we were draped all over them. Gannon is very good. They were No. 1 in the region at one point.”

SRU (11-16) finished the season with its most wins since the 2005-06 season. Saturday marked The Rock’s first postseason game in nine years as well.

D’Asia Chambers paced SRU with 17 points and will leave the program ranked fifth all-time in career rebounds and ninth in points at The Rock.

“She’s the best player I’ve coached ... very humble, a tremendous person as well as a player,” McGraw said. “It would have been a shame to see her go through four years here and never get to the postseason. I’m glad we were able to get that done.”

Siggers had nine points and five rebounds for The Rock, which suffered 22 turnovers.

Mollie Sebald paced four Gannon (22-6) players in double figures with 16 points. Nettie Blake had 14 points and 12 rebounds, Brittany Batts and Morgan Neighbors 11 points each.

Amanda Berchtold had seven assists. SRU’s entire team had six.

Gannon defeated The Rock for the third time this season and will travel to California (Pa.) for a quarterfinal game Tuesday.