Sports

Clarion Women Lose Two Over Weekend

It was a tough weekend for the Golden Eagles, as they went down hard in their PSAC crossover games this weekend at West Chester University and Millersville University, dropping their record to 1-4 overall and 1-3 in the PSAC West.

In Dec. 3 game at West Chester, Clarion stuck with the Golden Rams through the first five minutes, but West Chester would sprint out to an 11-0 run, extending
their lead to 22-8 with just under 12 minutes to play in the half.

The Golden Eagles fought back with a 6-0 spurt that included four points from Hannah Heeter to close back within eight, 22-14, but West Chester answered with a
15-0 run to go ahead 37-14 with 7:23 to play.

The Golden Rams finished the half on a 27-6 run and jump out to a 61-32 lead.

Turnovers continue to trouble the Golden Eagles, leading to 36 of the 61 first half points for West Chester.

The second half would be much of the same for the Golden Eagles, as West Chester used a 20-9 run in the half to march on to a 102-68 win over the Golden Eagles.

There were some bright spots however, as sophomore Ann Deibert recorded the fourth double-double of her young career with a team-high 16 points and a game-high
12 rebounds.

“I think just as runs can happen with points, runs can happen with mistakes and that is something we have to work on a team to correct,” Deibert said. “It’s
not one thing, it’s a snowball effect that we’re working hard to fix.”

Another bright spot was redshirt freshman Heeter, playing in just her second game, had a career-high 13 points and eight rebounds on 5-of-9 shooting.

“She’s doing a great job coming in late,” said Coach Parsons. “Down the road, she will be a great asset to our team.”

In Sunday’s game at Millersville, Heeter had another solid game, with nine points and nine rebounds, finishing one point shy of her first career double-double.

In the first half, Clarion led 12-9 6:29 into the game thanks to a pair of 3-pointers from Emma Fickel, but Millersville scored 20 of the next 22 points to take
a 29-14 lead with 3:23 to play in the first half.

The Marauders then pushed the lead to 16, 36-20, at halftime.

Millersville picked up right where they left off in the second half, going on a 17-4 run, leading to a 72-53 win.

“Their defense really took a toll on us by putting more pressure on the ball, which didn’t allow us to set up an offense. Once the second half started, we
learned how to overcome the errors and became more aggressive with the ball,” Heeter said.

Turnovers hurt Clarion once again, as the Golden Eagles were outscored off giveaways 18-3 in the first half and 29-11 for the game.

“Its a matter of taking care of the basketball,” Coach Parsons commented. “If we cut our turnovers in half, we’ll be in good shape.”

That will be the approach for the Golden Eagles as they’ll try to get back on the winning track.

The women continued their skid as they lost to West Virginia Wesleyan Dec. 7 85-65 at home.

Emma Fickel led the way for the Golden Eagles with 18 points on 7-of-18 shooting.

The Golden Eagles (1-5) will take on Shippensburg University (4-3) Dec. 9 at home.