CLARION, Pa. — It was a night full of celebrations in Tippin Gymnasium, as the Golden Eagle women’s basketball defeated Slippery Rock 82-64.
Before the game, Clarion honored its four seniors—Heather Ansell, Abby Gatesman, Alyssa McLellon, and Sadre’a Rougeau.
The celebration carried on from the pregame ceremony all the way past the final buzzer as the Golden Eagles took an early lead on the Rock and never let up, marking the fifth time Clarion has beaten Slippery Rock in the last seven meetings in Tippin Gym.
The victory also marked the first win of Danielle Fleming’s tenure as Golden Eagle head coach.
Clarion had a dominant night all over the stat sheet, particularly on offense. The team shot 12-of-29 (.414) from behind the arc and shot a healthy 45.6 percent from the field. Rebounding was also a huge difference, with the Golden Eagles outrebounding the Rock by a margin of 49-35. Thirteen of those came on the offensive glass and led directly to 17 points for the Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagle bench played a huge part in the outcome of the game, outscoring the Slippery Rock bench 40-8, with Malayziah Etheredge leading all Clarion players with 18 points and nine rebounds. Hannah Wilkerson was also huge off the bench, scoring 14 points. Rougeau was huge in the starting lineup, adding 17 points to the stat sheet, and was dynamic defensively, adding three steals and a blocked shot.
Clarion led wire-to-wire, opening the game on a tear and quickly running out to a 16-4 advantage. Gatesman scored eight of the first sixteen points, including a pair of shots from behind the arc, and Autumn Taylor added six of her own during the stretch.
With two minutes left in the first quarter, Etheredge had the highlight of the quarter, converting a dream shake layup while drawing a foul call to make it 18-9. Siara Conley added a basket at the end of the quarter to make it a double-digit ball game after 10 minutes.
The second quarter was all about Clarion’s three-point shooting, with the Golden Eagles catching fire from long distance. With 8:40 left in the second quarter, Taylor rejected an Anye Washington layup to spark a Clarion transition opportunity, and Rougeau splashed in a triple off the Taylor assist to make it 26-12.
Just a couple of minutes later, Slippery Rock cut the lead back to 11, but Rougeau shut the door on any potential run by draining her third basket from deep off a DayLynn Thornton assist.
An emphatic block by Gatesman along with an Etheredge trey closed out the second quarter, with the Golden Eagles clinging to an 11-point advantage at the break.
After Slippery Rock brought the lead back down to single digits in the third quarter, an offensive rebound and layup by Conley put the Golden Eagles ahead by 43-33. From there, the Clarion lead ballooned to as high as 24 points, after Clarion went on a 20-4 run to end the quarter.
The defense swarmed the Rock late in the period, allowing just two field goals in the quarter and holding them without a make from the field for more than six minutes of game clock.
From there, it was smooth sailing, as the Golden Eagles put the finishing touches on the victory. With 6:20 left in the final quarter, McClellon nailed a shot from behind the arc out of an out-of-bounds play, with Gatesman assisting on the basket to bring it to a 69-40 Clarion advantage.
The seniors each got their individual curtain calls, embracing teammates and their coaches as they tasted victory in front of friends and family.
The Golden Eagles return to action next Wednesday, February 28, as they host their final game of the season against Mercyhurst, tipping off at 5:30 p.m.
Clarion Men’s Basketball Forces OT, but Falls to Slippery Rock
The Golden Eagle men’s basketball team rallied from a 12-point deficit in the second half to force overtime, but Clarion’s comeback bid came up just short as Slippery Rock won 97-94.
There was a massive momentum shift midway through the second half, after The Rock took a 57-45 lead on a three-pointer by Lashon Lindsey. Lindsey picked up a technical after the make, though, and from there the tide began to turn toward the Golden Eagles.
Cam Kearney made the subsequent free throws and Connor Spratt drilled a three-pointer on the following possession, cutting the Rock’s lead down to seven points.
Gavin Cote continued the rush with a trey of his own, scoring at the 11:11 mark of the half to make it 57-53, and Jeremy Thomas II swiped a pass from Luke Howes and threw it down for a dunk on the next trip down the floor. Jayson Harris completely erased Slippery Rock’s lead with a make, and Steve Kelly put Clarion ahead 60-58 with a three-pointer at the 9:29 mark.
In the span of just 2:19, the Golden Eagles had turned a deficit of a dozen points to a two-point lead, but a bitter fight down the stretch sent the game to overtime.
Ike Herster made a three-pointer with less than 30 seconds to play in regulation, but Cote matched him with just under seven seconds to play, knocking down a shot to go ahead 82-80. Howes scored on the Rock’s final possession of the game, going coast to coast for a layup before time expired to send the game to overtime.
Both sides traded possessions to start the overtime period, but the Rock eventually took a five-point lead with 26 seconds to play. Kelly rushed down the floor and scored to make it a one-possession game, and Kearney made a pair of free throws with 10 seconds left to cut the deficit to 97-94.
Cote stole the subsequent inbound pass but the Golden Eagles could not convert on a pair of three-point shot attempts, giving the Rock the win.
Kearney finished with a team-high 23 points on 7-of-16 shooting, as well as an 8-of-10 performance from the free throw line. Thomas finished with eight points and a game-high 15 rebounds in just 23 minutes of action, as the rugged forward dealt with foul trouble for much of the night.
Cote scored 18 points by going 6-of-10 from three-point range, and Steve Kelly, Jayson Harris and Justice Easter all cracked double figures.
Slippery Rock controlled most of the action in the first half, going ahead 16-8 by the 13-13 mark after a 7-0 run. Their advantage grew as large as 12 points in the first half, but Clarion chipped away at it, getting it down to 31-26 after a midrange jumper from Kearney at the 3:39 mark.
Kelly added a make with 89 seconds left in the period to cut it to 31-28, but the Rock scored on consecutive possessions to make it 35-28 at the half.
Copyright © 2024 EYT Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Any copying, redistribution or retransmission of the contents of this service without the express written consent of EYT Media Group, Inc. is expressly prohibited.
