BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Golden Eagle women's basketball team could not close the gap against a tough opponent on the road, falling by a 73-62 score to Bloomsburg at E.H. Nelson Fieldhouse on Monday night. Clarion (3-14, 2-10 PSAC) tightened the gap in the second half but could not overtake the Huskies in the last 20 minutes.
 
The game was well within reach early in the second half, with Clarion trailing just 37-33 after coming back from the break. Gloria Bwende took a pass from Sierra Bermudez and finished in the paint to make it 37-33 just 16 seconds into the third quarter, and the deficit remained in single digits until near the late part of the third quarter. Jada Smith scored with 5:42 remaining in the third to make it 47-38, and Allyson Kirby made it 54-46 with 27 seconds left to go in the period. Samantha Brusha scored a three-pointer with 17 seconds left to make it 57-46, though, and the lead never went below 10 points again.
 
Bermudez led all Golden Eagles with 17 points, doing so on 7-of-15 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range. Kirby came up just one rebound shy of a double-double, scoring 10 points and pulling down nine rebounds, while Smith nearly had her own with nine points and eight boards. Oloivia Boocks added 11 points in 25 minutes of action.
 
Clarion briefly held a 4-3 lead in the first quarter, with Kirby scoring on a layup at the 7:18 mark of the period. The Huskies responded with 11 straight points, going up 14-4 with 2:52 left in the quarter on a transition jumper by Ella Kale. Charjae Brock cut it to four points with a pair of buckets, and Boocks scored with seven seconds left in the first quarter to make it 20-14 after 10 minutes. Boocks struck again midway through the second quarter, capping a 6-0 run with a trey that made it 25-20, and then added another at the 4:20 mark to make it a four-point game. The Huskies ended up taking a two-possession lead heading into halftime, though, leading 37-31.
 
Bwende's bucket to start the third quarter cut the lead as close as it would be for the remainder of the game, as Bloomsburg pulled away with a 10-3 run. Brusha kept the lead at double-digits with a trey late in the third quarter that made it 57-46, and the deficit swelled to as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter.