SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Golden Eagles just missed a game-tying three pointer with five seconds remaining, as Clarion (2-9, 1-5 PSAC) fell by a narrow 65-62 margin to Slippery Rock on the road on Saturday. Clarion erased what was a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but the Rock kept them off the scoreboard in the final minutes of action to take the win.
 
Deleah Gibson gave Slippery Rock a 58-52 lead with a three-pointer at the 7:42 mark of the fourth quarter, but the Golden Eagles erased that lead and took one themselves with an 8-0 run over the next 2:35. Olivia Boocks started it off with a three-pointer on the subsequent possession, and Cory Santoro scored in the paint to make it 58-57. Allyson Kirby chipped in the last of her season-high 10 points with a trey at the 5:07 mark, giving the Golden Eagles a 60-58 advantage heading into the back half of the quarter.
 
The teams traded buckets for the next few minutes, with Sierra Bermudez scoring to keep Clarion on top 62-61 with 4:25 to go. Isabellah Middleton took a pass from Daeja Quick and laid it in at the 2:17 mark to put the Rock ahead by one, and neither team scored for the next two minutes of action. With 18 seconds left in regulation, Middleton drew a foul and sank two free throws to make the lead 65-62. With 8.6 seconds remaining, Bermudez inbounded the ball to Emily Hegedus and took a feed back behind the three-point line, but the freshman sharpshooter just missed as the Rock recovered the rebound and took the win.
 
Santoro returned to action after missing the last several games and had one of her best in the Golden Eagles uniform, scoring 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting to go with six rebounds. Bermudez notched nine points and a team-high eight rebounds. Boocks and Kirby both went over double-digits in points, scoring 12 and 10, respectively.
 
The Rock led 14-8 late in the first quarter before Santoro and Gloria Bwende scored down the stretch to cut it to two points at the end of the period. Santoro gave the Golden Eagles a lead early in the second quarter with a three-pointer, and the freshman later made it 25-23 in favor of Clarion with 1:38 left to play in the first half. Coming out of the halftime break it was Clarion's turn to open up a lead, with Bwende making it 46-42 with 2:54 remaining in the quarter. Hegedus scored on a pair of free throws as time expired in the third quarter, cutting the Rock's lead to 49-48 heading into the final frame.