Box Score CLARION, Pa. – Visiting Charleston (W. Va.) outscored Clarion by 13 in the second half to topple the Golden Eagles 74-55 in Clarion's season opener Friday night at Tippin Gym.
 
Played as part of the Clarion Classic, Clarion (0-1) trailed 33-27 at halftime but was 13-4 in the opening seven minutes of the second half.
 
Charleston (3-0) then pushed the lead to as many as 24, 68-44.
 
Senior Emma Fickel led Clarion with 15 points, while Tania Holmes added 14 points and four steals. Red-shirt freshman Kelly Johnson, playing in her first collegiate game, added 10 points, five steals and four rebounds. The Golden Eagles were without last year's leading scorer and rebounder, All-Region player Hannah Heeter, who is still playing volleyball for the Clarion volleyball squad.
 
LeAnn Ross paced Charleston with 22 points and was 6 of 7 from 3-point range. Behind Ross, Charleston shot 47.8 percent (11 of 23) from behind the arc including 9 of 14 in the second half.
 
Nichole Perry added 16 points and seven rebounds, and Chyress Lockhart 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Charleston.
 
Charleston game out strong in the opening 10 minutes building an early 10-point lead, 20-10. But behind a strong defensive effort, Clarion went on a 14-3 run to go ahead 24-23 with 4:53 left in the first half.
 
It was a Fickel layup that gave the Golden Eagles their only lead of the game, and the senior guard had six points during the run, while Holmes added four.
 
But Charleston finished the first half on a 10-3 run to take a 33-26 halftime lead.
 
Charleston then expanded that run to 23-8 in the second half to take a 46-31 lead wit 14:31 to play. Clarion was never able to get closer than 12 the rest of the way.
 
Clarion shot 34.4 percent (21 of 61) including 4 of 24 from 3-point range, while Charleston connected on 53.8 percent of its shots (28 of 52). Neither team was good from the free-throw line with Clarion going 9 of 23 and Charleston 7 of 17. Charleston outrebounded Clarion 42-34 but only outscored Clarion 13-6 on second-chance points.
 
Both teams are back in action on the second day of the Clarion Classic, which is sponsored by the Hampton Inn, Pizza Hut and Exploreclarion.com, Saturday. Charleston takes on Millersville at 4 p.m. followed by Clarion and West Liberty at 6 p.m.
 
In the opening game of the Classic, Millersville knocked off West Liberty 92-83 behind 29 points and 18 rebounds from Yasmin Cooper. West Liberty got 19 points and eight rebounds from Jasmin Kiley.