Clarion Athletics

FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The Clarion women's basketball team came out firing from three-point range but was unable to make up a second-half deficit, falling by a score of 69-54 to Fairmont State in the first game of the 2016 MEC/PSAC Challenge.  The Golden Eagles (0-1) will face off with Concord tomorrow.
 
Tyra Polite played nearly the entire game on Friday night, scoring 15 points in 39 minutes while also pulling in six rebounds and dishing out two assists.  Newcomer Quorea Pearyer had the game-high for Clarion, posting 16 points in just 22 minutes of action.  Pearyer went off from beyond the arc, going 4-of-5 from three-point range.  Delrika Jones-Carey tied for the game-high with 11 boards.
 
Clarion trailed after one half of action but came out firing in the third quarter, outscoring the eagles 24-19 to make it a close game again.  The Golden Eagles were strong from three-point range, shooting 42.3 percent (11-of-26) from behind the long line.  Fairmont State out-rebounded them 49-39, though, and outscored them 16-4 on second chance points.
 
Amesha Harden-Pulliam struck the first dagger in the third quarter, draining a three-pointer off a feed from Jordan Bekelja to make it 30-21.  Fairmont State responded with a 5-0 run before Bekelja herself stopped the bleeding with a trey of her own.  Pearyer made it a single-digit game with threes on consecutive possessions, knocking one down at the 4:54 mark and another with 4:17 left in the third quarter, both off passes from Polite.  Polite made it a two-score game with a jumper at the 1:02 mark, making it 47-41, but Fairmont State upped the lead to nine points on a fast break layup by Emily Puskarich.
 
Fairmont State upped the lead to as many as 19 points in the fourth, though Pearyer cut into that with a personal 4-0 run that included a score in the paint off a steal from Jones-Carey.  There would be no more field goals the rest of the game, though, as both defenses locked things down in the stretch.