CLARION, Pa. – Delrika Jones-Carey posted an outrageous stat line as the Clarion women's basketball team enjoyed a victory at home on Wednesday, with the Golden Eagles beating Kutztown 71-66 at Tippin Gymnasium.  Clarion improves to 6-10 overall and 6-4 in the Pennsylvania State Athletics Conference with the win over the Golden Bears.
 
Jones-Carey went off to the tune of 19 points and a game-high 18 rebounds, tying her previous career-high for boards in the process.  She shot 50.0 percent from the field with an 8-of-16 performance over the course of 36 minutes of action. 
 
Joining Jones-Carey in double figures were three other Golden Eagles players, with Tyra Polite tying her for the team lead in scoring with 19 points of her own.  Tania Holmes added 15 points, including the go-ahead bucket with 48 seconds remaining, and Jordan Bekelja notched 10 points.
 
Clarion weathered a tough storm from the Golden Bears in the third quarter when Kutztown outscored them 23-14 but the Golden Eagles didn't waver in the face of adversity.  Natalya Lee put Kutztown ahead 56-54 with a jumper at the 8:36 mark of the fourth quarter but Jones-Carey tied it on her next trip down the floor with a spinning jumper.  Lee tied it again with two free throws to make it 60-60 but Clarion responded with a 6-0 run, wrapping the rally with a steal and transition layup from Polite to make it 66-60.
 
Kutztown tied it at 66 on one more bucket from Lee but the Golden Bears got no close.  Holmes made a layup on the next possession to retake the lead with 48 seconds remaining, and Jen Straw tacked on a pair of free throws with seven seconds left to officially put the game out of reach.
 
Clarion got off to a 6-0 start in the game with Holmes and Polite draining three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to start.  Polite made it 10-6 with 5:26 remaining in the first quarter and set the deficit at the end of the period, taking a feed from Bekelja and making a midrange jumper to make it 18-15 after 10 minutes of play.
 
Jones-Carey bumped that lead to seven points early in the second quarter by scoring on a layup at the 6:28 mark to make it 24-17, and the junior forward gave her team a double-digit edge with a fast break layup that made it 36-26.  The newest Golden Eagle Ashley DeLeonibus gave her team their biggest lead of the evening, making a jumper with a minute left in the quarter to make it 38-26, and the lead remained in double-digits after Straw made a jumper with just six seconds remaining in the quarter.