Box Score
Senior Day Photo Gallery


CLARION, Pa. – Behind strong games from Kelly Johnson, Emma Fickel and Hannah Heeter, the Clarion University women's basketball team kept its PSAC Playoff hopes alive with an 82-64 win over visiting Mercyhurst on Senior Day at Tippin Gym Sunday afternoon.
 
Johnson became just the second freshman in school history to score 30 points on two different occasions when she netted a game-high 30 points to go with seven steals – tying the freshman school record – five rebounds and four assists.
 
Fickel, in her final home game of a very solid four-year career, scored 22 points while adding five rebounds, one assist, one block and a steal, and Heeter had her 10^th double-double in her last 11 games with 14 points and 16 rebounds. It was the junior's 24^th career game of at least 15 rebounds and her 43^rd career double-doubles including 14 this season.
 
With the victory, Clarion (11-14 overall, 5-10 PSAC West) continues to control its own destiny in the PSAC Playoff race. If the Golden Eagles win Wednesday at PSAC West champion Edinboro (5:30 p.m. tipoff), they will clinch their second straight conference playoff berth. Clarion can still clinch a playoff spot Wednesday even if it loses as long as Mercyhurst loses to Pitt-Johnstown and Seton Hill falls to California.
 
After leading by 14, 40-26, at halftime, Clarion used spurts of 11-3 and 18-8 to hold off a Mercyhurst (6-19, 4-11) comeback attempt in the second half that saw the Lakers close to within four, 46-42, with 13:20 to play and to within seven, 57-50, with 9:39 left.
 
The 11-3 run came after an old-school 3-point by Adrienne Kloecker cut Clarion's lead to four and was fueled by five points from Fickel, four from Heeter and two by Johnson that restored the advantage to double digits, 57-47.
 
Then, after an Alex Artise 3-pointer got Mercyhurst back within seven, Clarion answered with the 18-8 run that saw Fickel score six, Jasmine Boyd add five of her seven points, Johnson chip in four and Heeter three to give the Golden Eagles a 75-58 lead with 2:43 to play.
 
Clarion built the 14-point halftime lead on the strength of a half-ending 23-8 run that started with Clarion trailing 18-17 when Johnson hit a 3-pointer with 11:04 left in the half. It was the first three of 10 points during the stretch for Johnson, who had 17 first-half points on her way to her sixth 20-point game of the season. Fickel, who has now topped 20 points four times this year and 12 times in her career, had seven points during the half-ending run.
 
Artise led Mercyhurst with 21 points and six rebounds, while Kloecker added 16 points and Laura McCauley and Natalie Piaggesi 10 each. McCauley also had six rebounds.
 
Clarion shot 50 percent (29 of 58) on the day including 12 of 22 (54.5 percent) in the second half while holding Mercyhurst to 24 of 58 (41.4 percent) from the field and forcing 24 Laker turnovers thanks in large part to 14 steals.
 
Raven Jones added seven points, six assists and four steals for Clarion.
 
NOTES – If Clarion qualifies for the PSAC playoffs, it will be either the sixth seed out of the PSAC West or the fifth seed. The Golden Eagles can be the fifth seed with a win AND a Pitt-Johnstown loss to Mercyhurst. If Clarion loses (but qualifies for the postseason) OR Pitt-Johnstown wins, the Golden Eagles would be the sixth seed. The sixth seed will travel to California Saturday with the fifth seed traveling to IUP Saturday … Shannon Coakley is the only other Golden Eagle to have a pair of 30-point games as a freshman including a school-freshman record 32 in a PSAC Playoff win over Slippery Rock Feb. 26, 1991 … Johnson had 30 against Pitt-Johnstown in a loss Dec. 4 also at Tippin Gym. The 30 points ties for the second most points by a freshman in school history … Johnson and Coakley are joined by Jan Pago (1978 season) as the only Golden Eagle freshmen to score 30 points in a game … The seven steals by Johnson ties Ashley Grimm (Nov. 16, 2004) and Mariah Gador (Nov. 27, 2012) for the freshman school record. Both of their games happened to come against Pitt-Johnstown … With the 16 rebounds, Heeter now has seven games of 15 or more boards this year tying her for the most by a junior in school history with Heather Cigich. Heeter also holds the freshman record (eight) and sophomore record (nine) for games with 15 or more rebounds, and her 24 career games of 15 or more boards are eight more than the next highest in school history (Cigich with 16) … With the 22 points, Fickel now has 1,075 career points, the ninth most in school history … With the 16 rebounds, Heeter now has 858 in her career, the fourth most ever at Clarion … Johnson's 30 points give her 346 on the season, tying her with Fickel for the fourth most by a freshman in school history.