SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. – The Golden Eagle women's basketball team finished with a split on their first conference road trip of the season, falling by a 70-57 score to Shepherd at the Butcher Center on Saturday evening. Clarion (2-5, 1-1 PSAC) and Shepherd were separated by no more than a point in three of the four quarters played, but the Rams enjoyed a big second quarter to build separation.
 
Indeed, other than the second quarter, the game was nearly as even as could be. The teams were dead even on scoring in the second half, and Shepherd outscored Clarion only by a 16-15 margin in the first quarter. However, the second quarter went 19-7 to the Rams, and that proved to be the difference.
 
Sierra Bermudez scored a team-high 22 points on a 9-of-17 shooting day from the field. Much of that damage came inside the arc, as only two of Bermudez's buckets came from three-point range. Olivia Boocks finished in double-figures scoring, notching 11 points, while Jada Smith added eight points and a game-high nine rebounds.
 
Much as they did the night before against Millersville, the Golden Eagles wasted no time in putting the heat on the home team. Cory Santoro and Olivia Boocks made three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to give Clarion a 10-5 lead, and Bermudez added a trey at the 4:42 mark to make it 13-9. The teams traded the last four buckets of the quarter, with the Rams taking a 16-15 lead on a layup by Sydney Clayton with 38 seconds left in the period.
 
The big run for the Rams started early in the second quarter, as they scored nine straight points to start the period. The Golden Eagles struggled through a long drought, not getting on the board until Bermudez made a midrange jumper at the 5:17 mark to cut it to a 25-17 deficit. Mackenzie Freeze scored with two seconds remaining in the half to make it 35-22 at the halftime break.
 
Things completely stabilized from there, though, as Clarion and Shepherd were dead even on the scoreboard in the second half. The Golden Eagles shot 48.1 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes of action, with Bermudez scoring 12 of her 22 points in that span. The Golden Eagles scored 15 of the first 24 points of the second half, with Gloria Bwende drawing them to within 44-38 with a three-pointer. Bermudez scored at the 1:57 mark to keep it in single-digits at 47-40, but the Rams pulled away and held them off for the duration.