SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Clarion women's basketball team used a defensive flurry to open the game to keep Slippery Rock at bay, but the Golden Eagles were topped by the Rock by a score of 71-54 at Morrow Field House on Wednesday.  With the loss, Clarion falls to 8-19 overall, 8-13 in PSAC play.
 
Tania Holmes scored a team-high 16 points and played in all 40 minutes of action, with the senior guard also totaling six rebounds, four steals and two assists.  Joining her in double-figures was Amesha Harden-Pulliam, who scored 10 points in the first half of action and added three steals of her own.  Tyra Polite contributed 12 points and four assists.
 
Neither team found much of an offensive rhythm early in the game, with the teams combining for 40 team turnovers, including 23 by The Rock alone.  It was a one-possession game through three quarters but Slippery Rock pulled away in the fourth for the win. 
 
Amesha Harden-Pulliam put the Golden Eagles on the board first, draining a three-pointer from the left corner off a feed from Tania Holmes to make it 3-2.  Polite tacked on with a post move and make at the 7:45 mark, and Holmes sank both free throws of a technical foul assessed against the Rock's bench to cap the 7-2 run.  The Rock responded with a 9-0 run to take the lead and held a 13-11 advantage after an uneven first quarter that saw 15 turnovers between the two teams.
 
The Golden Eagles went back on top early in the second quarter thanks to strong defensive play from Bekelja.  She snatched a pass from Lexi Carpenter and dished it ahead to Polite for a layup, and on the ensuing possession robbed Carpenter again and laid it in to make it 15-13 just 29 seconds into the period.  Harden-Pulliam forced The Rock into a frustration timeout at the 7:03 mark of the second quarter, intercepting a pass and draining a three from the right corner to make it 22-18.  Ashley DeLeonibus tacked on with a midrange jumper on the next trip down the floor, stealing the ball from Megan Hardiman and knocking down the shot to cap a 7-0 run.
 
The Rock fired back with a 13-4 run to take a 31-28 lead with 52.6 seconds remaining in the period as the Golden Eagles called a 30-second timeout.  That advantage held all the way to the halftime break, with the Rock holding the three-point edge at the end of 20 minutes.
 
Slippery Rock opened the third quarter on a 5-2 run to take a 36-30 lead over the Golden Eagles, and Ciara Patterson drilled a three-pointer from the left corner to put The Rock up 39-32 with under six minutes to go in the period.  Bekelja knocked down a three-pointer from the left wing to cut Slippery Rock's lead to 41-37 with 4:27 remaining, and Polite knocked down a three from dead-center to cut the Rock's lead to 43-42.  Holmes closed the quarter with a big-time shot, draining a contested three-pointer from the left wing to cut the lead to 49-46 at the end of the third quarter.
 
The Rock opened up a 10-point lead off a transition bucket midway through the fourth quarter, taking a 60-50 advantage with 4:48 remaining in regulation.  The lead never again dipped into the single-digits as the Rock finished the game with a 71-54 edge.