Taylor Siggers

#1 Taylor Siggers, Senior
Mardela, Maryland

Taylor is a returning started from last year's squad and one of five seniors on this year's veteran team.

Taylor came to the Rock after playing one year at Indian River in Florida. When she came here she made an impact on the team right away and started in all 26 games. She was the Rock's second highest scorer and ranked among the best in the PSAC in scoring.

Taylor or Tay as most of her teammates call her is the teammate that will tell you exactly how it is. If you are playing bad she will be the first one to tell you straight up, "You can't play today" or "Get your head out of your ass", but coming from Taylor you know she only means well and wants you to go out there and fix your mistakes (or attitude)! Taylor is a great teammate and leader and the Rock is very grateful to have her apart of their team.

War Ready

As the start of season is finally here the women's basketball team at the Rock is more than ready. In less then two weeks the team will take a trip to West Virginia to play Fairmont State in a scrimmage. In just a week after that the team will travel to Indiana University (Not IUP for you Pennsylvanians reading this!). The real Indiana University! Then in 24 days the team will take the court at Morrow Field House to defend their home court for the first official game of the 2015-2016 season against Virginia State the defending Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association champions. As the team prepares for the first game of the season they are excited and anxious. For five of the sixteen girls this is the last season to play in there college career.
The team is ready to work hard each and every practice, help one another improve on their basketball skills, believe in each other and go to war for any of their teammates. These girls know their is no "I" in team and that it will take each and every single one of them to accomplish the goals they have put forth for this upcoming season. I guarantee you their is no other team out their works harder and that wants a PSAC championship as much as this 2015-2016 Rock women's basketball team!
Stay tuned, this season is about to heat up.

BELIEVE OR LEAVE

Last Day of Pre Season

As yesterday October 12th 2015 marked the last day of pre season for the Rock Women's Basketball team, they now continue to prepare for the season that lies ahead. Today October 15th, 2015 marks the first official practice for the 2015-2016 team.
For the last day of pre season the team went on a scavenger hunt around campus. The girls were split up into 4 teams and were given a list of things to do around the campus. Items on the list included the team members taking a picture while holding a sign reading #whynotus with a student on campus, a selfie of the team members in the ARC with the goldfish that sits at the front desk, and a video of the team members dancing. While most of the activities done by the team may seem fun and made many people laugh and interact with different faces they may have never talked to, it was also a workout. As the goal was to get the activities done as fast as you could team members would run from one location to the next (morrow field house-the football stadium). The list also included activities such as burpees, pull ups, a lap around the track and planks. When the scavenger hunt was over three of the four teams all ended at the same time and the coaches were forced to tally everything up to see who the winners were. Team three including two seniors and two sophomores were announced the winners at the end of the day on Tuesday.
Although it was all fun and games on Tuesday, the Rock Women's basketball team knows that the real work begins in just a few hours. The team is ready and very excited knowing they take the court in less then three weeks for the first scrimmage of the year. It was good for the team to end pre season on a good note and have a little fun before the real work starts.

Now its time to get serious!

Rock Women United State Marine Style

25 days down and only 6 to go. Preseason has come and flown by for the Rock Women's Basketball team. They have been pushed, tested mentally and physically but they have succeeded with whatever has been put in front of them.

In only the second week of pre-season the team had the honor to participate in a two day boot camp held by the United States Marine Corps. Lets take a quick second to process that. Women's basketball and the Marine Corps? What are they going to teach them? How does that help basketball wise? Well if you ask any of the girls it helped more than you would think. Leading up to the two day camp the girls were not necessary scared but more nervous as they did not know exactly what to expect. Were they going to yell at them? Were they actually going to have to do things the Marines did? All these questions ran through the girls head as they tried to prepare themselves for what they thought would be the two longest days of there lives.

What the girls and coaching staff (yes the coaches actually participated with them!) went through those two days not only pushed them to their physical limits with the many intense activities they did but they were also pushed mentally.

Day one was more individual based. The girls did a number of exercises and were pushed to see what they could do. Day two was more of a teamwork day. The girls were divided into two groups and competed with the coaching staff and a group of Marines. The girls had to learn to work together to complete events and try to do better then there competition. At the end of the two day boot camp the team and coaching staff all stuck together and were just as close as they were before. They fought through adversity and were pushed to their limits but in the end this only made the team stronger. Rock women's basketball can now say they survived boot camp with the United States Marine Corps!

After the girls finished boot camp they were given a t-shirt that said 'I survived' on the back. When one of the girls turned over the shirt to read it, it stated 'I survived', but quickly without missing a beat one of the girls said no 'WE survived'. So if you ask any one of the girls if they survived boot camp they will correct you and say no "we survived as a team". That's team work right there. It's pretty clear to me they all have the same goal on their minds as there season quickly approaches.

The Rock Women began their official season on October 15th and will have less than a month to prepare for the first official game of the season on November 13th!

Erica Aiello

#5 Erica Aiello, Senior
Columbus, Ohio

With the many new faces the Rock has seen in the past two years, Erica is one of three who have been here all four years.

Erica is a gym rat. I mean that 100%. If you are ever looking for her I would suggest you go look in the weight room first. She is known for her big muscles, being able to eat five servings in one sitting, always matching her clothes (no matter what she's wearing), but most importantly she is known for leading the team for the past three years.

When Erica came to Slippery Rock she made an impact on the team right away. Towards the end of her freshman year she took over the roll as starting point guard and she has not looked back. In the past two seasons she has started all 52 games and her stats continue to get better each year. Last year Erica had her best year in a Rock uniform as she set many career-highs and most importantly as a point guard committed a career-low in turnovers at 79. Going in to her senior year Erica is ranked 11th in school history in assists, 11th in minutes payed and 12th in three-pointers made. Now, as a senior Erica is going to continue to make an impact on the team just like she has been.

One last note- Don't let her height fool you, she will go "hard in the paint" any day!

Season Outlook

The Slippery Rock Women's Basketball team looks to build off an 11 and 16 record they had just one year ago. With a veteran squad and some fresh new faces, the Rock is looking to give their PSAC opponents a run for their money this year. 

Last Season, the Rock began a new era of basketball under first year head coach Bobby McGraw. As head coach he led the team to a berth into the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament, which was the first tournament berth for the women's basketball team in 10 years. The team improved on its record and doubled the amount of conference wins from the year before.

Slippery Rock picked up 7 conference wins last year with the first coming early in the season on December 3rd against Edinboro University, the 2014 PSAC women's basketball champions. However, the Rock lost some close games to Millersville, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mercyhurst, Seton Hill, California University of Pennsylvania, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Those seven games were all within reaching distance for the Rock before time slipped away from them.

Although the Rock did not have a winning record last year, they took a step in the right direction for the new era and have high hopes for the season right in front of them.