TIFFIN, Ohio - Aarion Nichols tallied a career-high 21 points to lead Tiffin women's basketball to an 83-73 victory over Slippery Rock on Saturday afternoon.

Leading by just four at halftime, the Dragons used a 24-13 third quarter advantage to pull away from The Rock and held on down the stretch for their fourth victory of the season. TU improves to 4-5 on the year, with conference play beginning next weekend.

Tiffin did a great job of holding Slippery Rock's offense in check, holding the visitors to just 37.1% shooting from the field and 20.0% from deep. The Dragons shot 43.5% from the field by comparison, and also outrebounded The Rock 47-36 in the game.

TU also outpaced SRU in assists (19-12), fastbreak points (21-6), and by a wide margin in points off the bench (39-12).

Nichols' career-best 21 points led the Dragons in scoring, with the sophomore going 2-3 from deep and 9-12 from the line on the afternoon. Savanah Richards had a great game off the bench, scoring 13 points and adding four rebounds, five assists, three steals, and two blocks.

Brooke Wesner and Danelle Bradley also chipped in 10 points apiece, while Jasmine Watts and Jada Tate tied for the team lead with seven rebounds each.

The game was tightly contested throughout the first quarter, with neither team taking a lead of more than two during the period. Tate sunk a pair of free throws with less than a second remaining to give Tiffin a 20-18 advantage at the end of the quarter.

Slippery Rock quickly took the lead back, but then the Dragons responded with a 7-0 run to go up 32-24 on a Kirsten Williams layup at the 4:33 mark of the second period. Tiffin still led by seven in the final minute of the half, but Slippery Rock's Madison Johnson was able to beat the buzzer with a triple to cut the deficit to four, 40-36, at halftime.

Tiffin would not let The Rock grab any momentum to start the third quarter, though, slowly extending their lead before a Bradley triple put the Dragons up 13, 57-44, at the 3:24 mark. A few minutes later, Wesner gave TU their biggest lead of the game at 15 with a free throw that put the Dragons up 64-49 at the end of the third period.

Slippery Rock was able to cut the Tiffin lead to single digits late in the fourth, but the Dragons converted free throws and held off The Rock for the 10-point victory.

As mentioned, GMAC play gets underway next week as the Dragons will make the southern swing to Trevecca Nazarene on Thursday and Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday.