ERIE, Pa. – In a game a lot closer than the final score would indicate, Mercyhurst pulled away from Clarion late to get a 70-50 win over the visiting Golden Eagles in PSAC West women's basketball action Saturday afternoon.
 
Clarion (2-22 overall, 1-18 PSAC West) trailed by just eight, 56-48 with four minutes to play, but Mercyhurst (9-17, 6-14) ended the game on a 14-2 run, including scoring nine points in the final 2:46, to set the 20-point margin.
 
Tania Holmes, coming off her first game in single digits in over a month, rebounded well with a team-high 19-point effort while adding seven rebounds and three assists. She has now reached double figures in nine of her last 10 games. She added two more 3-pointers giving her 54 on the year tying her for the 23^rd most 3-pointers in a season in school history with Allison Stodart, who had 54 in 2002.
 
Delrika Jones-Carey, meanwhile, recorded her team-leading sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds. It marked the eighth time this year Jones-Carey has reached at least 10 boards, and the six double-doubles tie her for the sixth-most double-doubles by a sophomore in Clarion history with Jessica Albanese, who also had six in 2006.
 
Natalie Piaggesi led all scorers with 23 points while completing a double-double of her own with 113 rebounds for Mercyhurst. Piaggesi also blocked three shots and dished out a pair of assists while shooting 10 of 16 from the floor.
 
Angela Heintz added 12 points and seven assists for the Lakers, and Adrienne Kloecker had 11 points, six rebounds and five helpers.
 
Clarion, which held leads on three different occasions in the first half including at 24-21 with 1:42 to play in the half following an 11-1 run fueled by four points from Holmes and a Cara Cook 3-pointer, trailed 26-25 at halftime.
 
Mercyhurst still led by one, 30-29, one-and-a-half minutes into the second half before using a 9-0 run that saw Piaggesi score the final six points of the spurt, to take its first double-digit lead of the game, 39-29, with 14:36 to play.
 
Still down 10, 41-31, a minute later, Clarion fought back with a 10-5 spurt that featured a 3-pointer by Amesha Harden-Pullium and a new-school 3-point play from Holmes who nailed all three charity shots after being fouled taking a triple, to cut the Lakers lead to five, 46-41, with 7:53 to play.
 
The Golden Eagles were still down just five, 48-43, following a pair of Holmes free throws with 7:12 left, but Mercyhurst went on an 8-2 run that saw Piaggesi score four points, to go back up 11, 56-45, with 4:33 to play.
 
Holmes then drained a triple at the 4:18 mark to get the game back into double digits, before Mercyhurst used the late run to pull away.
 
Clarion returns to action at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday when it hosts Edinboro. It is a Cancer Awareness game for the Golden Eagles, who are raising money for The Cancer Center at Clarion Hospital. As part of the fundraising efforts, the team is selling pink t-shirts, which can be purchased at the game for $15 or in advance by contacting the women's basketball office at 814-393-2200 or e-mailing head coach Jana Ashley at jashley@clarion.edu.
 
NOTES – The game started about 15 minutes late because Clarion's team bus was delayed getting to the game.