Clarion U. Women’s Hoops Moves to 7-3

Chris Rossetti

Published December 16, 2018 5:19 am

RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The Clarion women’s basketball team improved to 7-3 on the season with a complete road effort on Saturday, defeating Felician 67-61 at Job Gym.

(Photo courtesy of Clarion University Athletics)

The Golden Eagles return home for back-to-back games against PSAC opposition next week when they host Millersville and Shippensburg.

Clarion was in control of the game almost from the outset, outscoring the Golden Falcons 20-12 in the first quarter and never allowing them to take the lead. The Golden Eagles opened the game on an 11-0 run and never looked back from there, extending the advantage to as many as 15 points in the third quarter.

Kadijah Dickson scored a game-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field and an 8-of-12 day from the free throw line. Yasmin Lewis had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds, coming up just one board shy of a double-double but helping Clarion to a 41-29 advantage on the glass. Jordan Bekelja continued her climb towards 1,000 career points with 11 against the Golden Falcons.

Bekelja was, in fact, the one that got things going for the Clarion offense, knocking down a three-pointer on the opening possession to put the Golden Eagles ahead 3-0 just nine seconds into the game. Taylor Moltz added a midrange jumper to bump the lead to 5-0 and drained back-to-back three-pointers to make it an 11-0 advantage, knocking the Golden Falcons back on their heels.

Yndiah Bobo stole the ball from Kameron Stone and made a jumper with 22 seconds left in the first quarter to put Clarion ahead 20-12, and Lewis pushed the lead back to double-digits with a make at the 5:10 mark of the second that set the score at 25-14. Emily Hegedus added an old-fashioned three-point play with less than a minute left in the second, scoring through a foul by Shaelee Brown and making the free throw to make it 30-18.

Felician pulled as close as 38-33 in the third quarter before the Golden Eagles responded, with Dickson making a jumper to spark a 10-0 run that concluded with her fast break layup at 0:51 in the period. The Golden Falcons made it a one-possession game midway through the fourth quarter but never got over the hump as Clarion held them off for the victory.