CLARION, Pa. – The Clarion women’s basketball team saw its four-game win streak snapped on Tuesday, as the Golden Eagles fell by a 67-62 score to Lake Erie at the Student Recreation Center.
(Photo courtesy of Clarion University Athletics)
Clarion (4-1) will close out its four-game homestand Nov. 28 when it hosts Pitt-Bradford in the second annual Kids Day Game.
The teams essentially alternated control of the game from quarter to quarter, with the Storm controlling the first and third quarters and the Golden Eagles the second and fourth. The advantage Lake Erie built in the third quarter turned out to be the difference, though, as they used an 11-0 run to turn a tie ballgame into a double-digit lead.
Kadijah Dickson scored a team-high 14 points, while Jordan Bekelja came off the bench for 12 points and six rebounds. Both Yasmin Lewis and Haille Hart broke double-digits in boards, pulling in 11 each, and the Golden Eagles finished the game with a 42-38 edge on the glass.
The Golden Eagles started out cold from the floor in the first quarter, making just one of their first 10 shots, but they warmed up as the period went on and began to take control of the action. Bekelja came in off the bench and sparked the offense, scoring nine of her 12 points in the first half to pull closer to the Storm. Lake Erie led 19-12 at the end of the first quarter, and the lead in the first half went as high as 11 points before Clarion pushed back in earnest.
Taylor Moltz knocked down a three-pointer from the corner to cut the lead to 26-19, and Bekelja followed with a trey on the next possession to make it just a four-point game. Neely Whitehead very nearly erased the deficit with 5:19 remaining in the second quarter, making a trey from beyond the head of the key to make it 26-25. Things remained close the rest of the quarter, with Dickson cutting the lead to 35-33 before the halftime break.
Dickson did in fact erase the lead with 8:31 left in the third quarter, tying the game on a jumper, but the Storm responded with an 11-0 run that put them up 46-35 with 6:37 left. The lead stayed at three possessions through the end of the third quarter and into the fourth, with the Golden Eagles not keeping it below that until the waning minutes of the game. Lewis made a jumper to cut it to 60-55, and Moltz cut the lead to just three points with 1:03 remaining. The Storm made their free throws down the stretch the lock up the win.
