Feb. 28, 2009
Box Score
EDINBORO - The Clarion University women's basketball clinched the fourth and final PSAC Playoff spot awarded to the PSAC-West thanks to an 80-65 win at Edinboro and IUP's 72-52 win at Slippery Rock Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Eagles victory coupled with the Slippery Rock loss leaves both teams with identical 6-8 PSAC-West records. Clarion wins the tiebreaker, which in this case came down to wins vs. NCAA Division II teams at or above .500.
Clarion will now take on California, the PSAC-West champion, in the opening round of the PSAC Playoffs at 7 p.m. Tuesday at California.
The Golden Eagles (12-15) led by one, 38-37, at halftime but outscored Edinboro 42-28 in the second half to grab the win, which is head coach Gie Parsons 300th at Clarion. Edinboro (13-14) actually took a 41-40 lead early in the second half, but the Golden Eagles answered with a 27-11 run that saw seven different Clarion players score led by seven points from Sara Pratt and six from Katrina Greer.
Pratt and Greer each recorded double-doubles for Clarion with Pratt scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while also blocking five shots. Greer, Clarion's lone senior, added 17 points and 12 rebounds to make sure her career didn't end Saturday. Lizzie Suwala chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds.
Samantha Reimer led all scorers with 25 points for Edinboro, while Renee Brown added 21 points.
NOTES - Parsons is 300-253 in her 20th year at Clarion. She is the winningest coach in school history. She had 410 career wins ... Clarion is in the PSAC Playoffs for the second straight season and for the fifth time in eight years. It marks the second straight year Clarion will travel to California in the opening round. Cal beat Clarion 81-68 in that game ... Clarion has only two starters back from last year - Pratt and Greer ... Clarion was two games out of a PSAC Playoff spot with two games to play following last Sunday's loss to Slippery Rock. But The Golden Eagles beat both Lock Haven and Edinboro while Slippery Rock lost to California and IUP.
