Box Score
Video Interview with Tanya Longo
Photo Gallery

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's basketball team dropped its 2010-11 season opener to Tiffin, 67-42, Monday evening at Morrow Field House.

The Rock (0-1) scored first and held a lead for the first five minutes of the game before Tiffin (1-0) took the lead and never looked back.

Shannon Lee led Slippery Rock with nine points and six assists in her Rock debut. Alex Beatty added eight points, while Bethany Caudill and Katelyn Griffin each chipped in five points and Danielle Smith pulled down a team-high seven rebounds.

Tiffin was led by Karli Mist with 15 points. Jessica Harris added 10 points and six rebounds, while Mandy Jaeb and Melissa Gilliland each chipped in nine points.

Tiffin finished the game 14-of-34 for a field goal percentage of 36.6. The Dragons were 7-of-20 from behind the 3-point arc and 8-of-11 from the free throw line.

Slippery Rock was 17-of-49 (34.7%) for the game, including 4-of-17 from the three point line. The Rock was perfect at the free throw line, but only made four trips to the charity stripe.

Alex Beatty scored the first points of the season on a layup 1:18 into the first half. She connected on the free throw to complete the 3-point play and put SRU up 3-0. Mandy Jaeb tied the game at 3-3 with a 3-pointer on Tiffin's next possession and Grace Palucis followed with a jumper to put SRU back up 5-3 just three minutes into the game.

Both teams traded points to keep it tied at 7-7 with 14:30 to play in the half before Tiffin went on a 8-0 run to take a 15-7 lead with 10:27 to play in the half.

The Dragons never looked back, increasing their lead to as much as 17 in the first half before closing the half with a 37-21 lead.

Tiffin's lead hovered in the mid-20-point range for most of the second half and increased to as much as 28 at 63-35 with 2:44 to play.

Monday's season opener marked the beginning of the Tanya Longo era as Slippery Rock's head coach. The Rock will travel to the New England area this weekend to play in a tournament at Merrimack College.

Slippery Rock will face Merrimack at 7:30 p.m. Friday night and then will either face Indianapolis or Shepherd in the championship or consolation game Saturday afternoon.