LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – The Clarion women's basketball team held a lead for much of the afternoon but was unable to hold off a hard-charging Lock Haven team as the Golden Eagles fell 84-76 to the Bald Eagles in overtime.  Clarion (3-6, 3-3 PSAC) will next be in action on Sunday, Dec. 13 against West Liberty.
 
Tania Holmes came off the bench to score a team-high 18 points and also recorded seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.  Jordan Bekelja and Tyra Polite each added 15 points on the afternoon while Jen Straw contributed 11 points and seven rebounds.  Delrika Jones-Carey came dangerously close to a double-double, posting nine points and a team-high eight rebounds.
 
The Golden Eagles shot 40.0 percent from the field and jumped all over the Bald Eagles in the first half with a 7-of-12 (.583) performance from three-point range in the first two quarters.  Clarion held a 34-27 lead at the end of the second quarter and led by three entering the fourth quarter, but the Bald Eagles came back and outscored the Golden Eagles 14-6 in the extra session.
 
Clarion led by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter, with Straw putting the team ahead by three possessions with an old-fashioned three-point play at the 5:06 mark and maxing out the advantage at 60-51 .  It was still a two-possession ballgame with 32 seconds left after Bekelja made a pair of free throws, but the Bald Eagles cut the lead to two points and tied it with nine seconds remaining on a pair of free throws from Mackenzie Livingston, sending the game to overtime.
 
Clarion took a one-point lead early in the overtime period after Holmes drained a three-pointer with 3:33 to go, and led by one again after a free throw from Amesha Harden-Pulliam made it 76-75.  Lock Haven closed the game on a 9-0 run, though, stealing the win by an 84-76 score.
 
The first quarter was back and forth most of the way, with the Golden Eagles taking the lead late in the period and carrying it into the second.  Polite made a three-pointer to put Clarion ahead 14-13 and added another jumper two possessions later to make to 16-15.  Bekelja made a trey to make it 19-15 with 44 seconds left to close the Golden Eagles' scoring in the half.
 
The Golden Eagles pushed the lead to seven points in the second quarter as they continued to pressure Lock Haven.  The Bald Eagles went ahead for exactly 21 seconds in the period after a jumper by Loren Kaiser, but Harden-Pulliam drilled a three with 5:59 to play to retake the lead.  Polite made it a three-possession game on her final shot of the half, making a three with two seconds remaining to take a 34-27 lead into halftime.  Clarion led by as many as 10 points in the third quarter before Lock Haven began its comeback.