INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The Clarion University women's basketball dropped its season opener to Charleston (W.Va.) 54-43 Friday night in the first game of the Jana Ashley-era at the MEC/PSAC Challenge at West Virginia State.
 
"Charleston didn't do anything we weren't expecting," said Ashley. "They are a veteran team who understands the importance of rebounding. Our half-court defense was solid but we gave up too many second and third shots."
 
Clarion and Charleston were knotted at 27 at the half but Charleston outscored Clarion 27-16 in the second half in route to the 11-point victory.
 
Clarion had its only lead of the second half, 34-33, when Tania Holmes hit a three-pointer with 16:06 remaining. Later in the half with the score tied at 37, but Charleston used a 13-2 run to take an 11-point lead with just under five minutes to play to pull away for the win.
 
Holmes led Clarion in scoring with 12 points while also dishing out four assists while shooting 4-for-7 from the three-point arc. Hannah Heeter finished with eight points and 15 rebounds. The 15 rebounds by Heeter marks the 26^th time she has finished with 15 or more rebounds in a game which ranks first in Golden Eagle history. She needs 10 points for 1,000 in her career.
 
Junior guard Jasmine Boyd finished with nine points for Clarion, while frehman Amesha Harden-Pullium scored eight points in her Clarion debut.
 
"We competed with a very good team for about 30 minutes," said Ashley. "When we will learn to stay focused and discipline for an entire game, we will win a lot of games."
 
Nichole Perry led Charleston with 19 points while Kayla Dozier also finished in double-digits with 10 points.  Monet Saunders chipped in with seven points and 13 rebounds.
 
After trailing by two early in the first half, Clarion used a 10-3 run to take its largest lead of the game at 17-12 behind two three-pointers from Holmes. Charleston tied the scored up at 21-all before the game remained tied at 27-27 at the half.
 
Clarion shot 33.3 percent from the field (16 of 48) in the game  
 
The Golden Eagles return to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. vs. West Virginia State in their second game of the Mountain East/PSAC Conference Challenge.

By Jonathan Hooke - Sport Information