FAIRMONT, W.Va. – The Golden Eagle women's basketball team opened up the 2021-22 season on the road on Saturday afternoon. Clarion fell by a 92-68 score to Fairmont State at Joe Retton Arena. They will look to even up their record when they take on Concord tomorrow afternoon, before heading back to Tippin Gym for their home opener on Wednesday against West Liberty.
Returning to action for the first time since the 2019-20 season,
Jada Smith showed she was back to her old self with a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double in just 26 minutes of action. The upperclassmen shot 6-of-7 from the field and went 5-of-8 from the free throw line while also dishing out four assists.
Her return was complemented by two other Golden Eagles who reached double figures in scoring.
Abby Gatesman played a team-high 36 minutes and posted 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting, while also recording six rebounds and three assists. Freshman
Cory Santoro made her collegiate debut with an 11-point day, shooting 5-of-11 from the field.
Clarion came out guns blazing in the first quarter, opening the game on a 7-0 run. Smith scored the first four of those points with buckets in the paint, and Gatesman added a transitition three-pointer to make it 7-0 just 87 seconds into the contest. The Falcons rallied and pulled even at 7-7 after a fast break bucket by Alyssa DeAngelo, though Smith countered with another make in the paint at the 5:20 mark of the quarter.
The game largely went the way of the Falcons for the remainder, though. Fairmont State caught fire and outscored Clarion 20-4 the rest of the first quarter to take a 29-13 lead. The Golden Eagles knocked that lead back into the single digits briefly in the second quarter, when Santoro stripped the ball from Sierra Kotchman and took it the other way to cap a 7-0 run that cut the lead to 29-20.
Emily Hegedus kept it a nine-point game with a three-pointer at the 5:49 mark of the second, but the Falcons pulled away again and led 50-35 at the halftime break.
Fairmont State's lead reached 20 points at times in the third quarter, and the Falcons continued to push the advantage before wrapping the game with a 92-68 win.
