CALIFORNIA, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle women's basketball team rallied from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to pull within two possessions, but Clarion could not complete the comeback in falling by a 53-43 score to California (Pa.) at the Convocation Center on Wednesday.
 
Save for one rough stretch running through the third quarter into the fourth, the Golden Eagles kept pace with the Vulcans for the most part. Outside of that third quarter Clarion outscored California 35-31 in a game that turned out to be a defensive battle, with neither side shooting better than 37.0 percent from the field.
 
Clarion went on a 12-2 run late in the game, cutting the Vulcans' 16-point advantage down to just six points. Ava Haddad started the run at the 6:32 mark of the quarter, and Sierra Bermudez scored through contact at the 3:40 mark to push the deficit down to 47-35. Bermudez sank a three-pointer less than a minute later to make it 49-38, and Jada Smith drove for a layup at the 2:10 mark. Bermudez had one more big three-pointer in her, taking a feed from Smith and burying a trey to cut the lead to 49-43 with 92 seconds remaining.
 
However, the Golden Eagles got no closer to the Vulcans, who locked down and held Clarion without a point the rest of the way. Rajah Fink made two free throws down the stretch to put the lead back at double-digits, making it 53-43.
 
Bermudez finished with a team-high 15 points in 35 minutes of action, going 6-of-15 from the field. Haddad was 5-of-10 from the field for 11 points and four rebounds, while Smith put up a stat-line of nine points, 13 rebounds and seven steals.
 
The Golden Eagles opened the game on a 6-2 run, with Olivia Boocks contributing two of those points and Haddad chipping in four of them. Haddad made a jumper at the 7:05 mark to give Clarion an 8-4 advantage, and she eventually made it a 13-6 lead after Smith stole the ball from Ciaira Loyd and dished it to her for a bucket. Gloria Bwende had the Golden Eagles ahead 15-13 with a midrange jumper, also off a pass from Smith, but Jordan Smith hit a three-pointer with 22 seconds left in the quarter to give the Vulcans a 16-15 lead after 10 minutes. Neither team mustered much offense in the second quarter, with each side managing just seven points apiece.
 
The Vulcans took their advantage for good in the third quarter, on the back of a 21-8 scoring advantage over the Golden Eagles. That turned a one-point lead into a 14-point chasm, and though Clarion chipped away at the deficit they could not quite get over that hump.
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