Sports

Women’s basketball opens season with OT win

On Saturday, Nov. 13, the Clarion Golden Eagles women’s basketball team stood victorious in their home opener.

The team took on East Stroudsburg University and showed a promising start and jumped out into a 5-0 lead in just the first minutes of the game.

Freshman Emma Fickel was first to score with a three pointer from the top of the key.

Junior Courtney Healy followed with a short jumper extending the early lead.

However, ESU fought back with two back-to-back three pointers to make it 6-5, barely halfway into the first half.

The Golden Eagles played a good defensive game while focusing on their offense throughout the half, taking a 24-15 lead toward the end of the first half of play.

Fickel dropped eight points in the last five minutes of the first half.

With less than two minutes to go, the Warriors put in two points with a one and one free throw opportunity, bringing them within two points and ended up taking the lead with a
Brittany McClain three-pointer to make it 31-29.

With just a few seconds to play, freshman Mackenzie Clark was fouled and given a two-point opportunity.

Clark made both and tied the game at 31-31.

Getting off to a slow start in the second half, East Stroudsburg took off with an 8-0 run to make it 38-31.

The Warriors took a 41-35 lead with 14 minutes to go.

When the clock hit six minutes, the Golden Eagles went on a 15-4 run, allowing seven different players to score during that time.

The Warriors still held a 63-58 lead with 1:53 left in the game.

With 1:07 to play, Healy got fouled and made both free throws.

With 49 seconds left in regulation and Clarion down by three, Fickel came off of a screen and got the ball to drain a three-pointer way beyond the women’s line to tie the score.

The game was sent into overtime followed by a missed East Stroudsburg field goal attempt.

Freshman Ann Deibert and fellow freshman Jennifer Linkchorst each had four points in the overtime win for the Golden Eagles, going on a 6-0 run at the beginning of play.

Linkchorst shot and made two free throws to seal the home opener win for Clarion.

Top scorers were Fickel with 22 points, including the game tying three point shot which gave her four 3-pointers of the night, three steals and three rebounds.

Clark had 17 points. She was 6-11 from the field and had five steals, two rebounds and two assists.

Healy recorded a double double for her home opener with 11 points and 11 rebounds, while adding two blocks and two steals.

Also scoring was Deibert with six points, also tying Healy for rebounds along with three assists and one steal.

Linkchorst had eight points, three assists and three rebounds.

The Golden Eagles next game will be Friday, Nov. 19, at West Virginia Wesleyan.

The game is set for a 5:30 p.m. tip off.