FAIRMONT, W.Va. --- Two Golden Eagles topped 20 points and two others broke double-digits in scoring, but Clarion women's basketball fell by an 88-71 score to Fairmont State at Joe Retton Arena on Saturday evening. Clarion bounced back from a tough first quarter to hold tight with the Falcons in the final 30 minutes.
 
Jada Smith and Sierra Bermudez each finished with 21 points on Saturday, with Smith also pulling down a game-high 14 rebounds for her first doubled-double of the season. Ava Haddad went off for 18 points and six rebounds, and Allyson Kirby had her second straight double-digit scoring performance with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting.
 
However, the Golden Eagles were a bit top-heavy in terms of scoring, with those four comprising most of the scoring. The Falcons shot just 42.0 percent from the floor, compared to 44.8 percent for the Golden Eagles, but Clarion turned the ball over 27 times and Fairmont State turned those into 23 points.
 
Fairmont State outscored Clarion 18-8 in the first quarter, building a double-digit lead after 10 minutes of action. The Golden Eagles cut into that early in the second quarter, with Bermudez hitting a three-pointer at 8:23 to cut it to 18-15, and Kirby adding a trey of her own to make it just a one-point game. Bermudez eventually gave Clarion the lead with a three at the 7:15 mark and Smith added a transition bucket on the next possession, after Gloria Bwende stole the ball from Gracey Lamm pushed it up to Smith for the bucket.
 
Bermudez built a 28-22 lead with a three-pointer at the 5:07 mark, but the Falcons cut that down and eventually took the lead 28-27 on a three-pointer by Madeline Huffman. Fairmont State closed the half on an 18-2 run to take a 40-30 lead at halftime. That advantage expanded to 15 points at the end of the third quarter as the Falcons outscored Clarion 23-18 in the third quarter, and eventually built a 17-point lead at the end of regulation.
  Read Full Article