Box Score CLARION – A strong defensive effort helped the Clarion University women's basketball team pick up its first home win of the season with a 68-45 victory over Cheyney Saturday afternoon at Tippin Gym.
 
The Golden Eagles (2-6 overall, 2-4 PSAC West) held the Lady Wolves (0-9, 0-6 PSAC East) without a basket for a span of 13:28 from late in the first half until late in the second half while limiting them to 26.2 percent (16 of 61) shooting from the floor.
 
Clarion used that defense to generate a 36-7 run that erased a one-point deficit late in the opening half and build a 28-point lead with just over six minutes to play in the game. A 22-0 spurt highlighted the run with freshman Nicole Miloser scoring eight of her career-high 10 points during the spurt.
 
Miloser was one of two Golden Eagles in double digits with Ann Deibert leading Clarion with 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals. In all, 10 different Clarion players found the scorebook with Mackenzie Clark adding nine points off the bench and Courtney Healy scoring nine points as well. Hannah Heeter chipped in seven points, eight rebounds, four steals, two assists and two blocked shot while Emma Fickel hit a pair of three-pointers and finished with six points. Raven Jones tied her season high with seven assists and also had four points and two rebounds.
 
Aerie DeJesus paced Cheyney with 14 points and six steals. Tamara Russell and Kyra McGriff each added eight points.
 
Clarion outscored Cheyney 42-20 in the second half while limiting the Wolves to six made field goals in the half.
 
The Golden Eagles led by 12, 17-5, early before Cheyney crawled back into the game and used a 15-2 run highlighted by six points from DeJesus to take a 23-21 lead with 3:30 left in the first half. The Wolves still led by a points, 25-24, following a Nadirah  Brown layup with 2:13 left before the half, but Clarion grabbed a 26-25 halftime lead when Clark hit two free throws with three seconds to play.
 
Brown's layup turned out to be the last made field goal for Cheyney until Russell hit a three-pointer with 6:32 left in the game to cut Clarion's lead to 60-34. The Golden Eagles responded with a 4-0 spurt that gave them their biggest lead of the game at 64-34.
 
Clarion is now off until Dec. 29 when it hosts Seton Hill at 5:30 p.m. It will be Clarion County night at Tippin Gym with all fans admitted for $1.