CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle women's basketball team nearly erased a double-digit lead in the final five minutes of the second half, but Clarion was unable to finish the comeback in falling 93-86 to Roberts Wesleyan at Tippin Gym on Wednesday night.
 
The game was back and forth through the first 30 minutes, with both teams enjoying long stretches of success. Roberts Wesleyan enjoyed their most meaningful stretch of the game early in the fourth quarter when they turned a deficit into a 13-point lead with 4:10 left to play. That 23-8 run put the Redhawks in position to win the game, but a string of Golden Eagle defensive plays put Clarion back into the action. Heather Ansell made a three-pointer at the 3:17 mark to cut the deficit to 89-79, and Jaylyn Twitty put the deficit back to single-digits at the 1:39 mark.
 
Two quick Roberts Wesleyan turnovers with just more than a minute to play made things that much closer. After Danielle DiCintio turned things over to the Golden Eagles at the 1:35 mark, Sadre'a Rougeau made a three-pointer to cut it to 89-84. Just eight seconds later Rougeau swiped the ball from Macey DeOrdio and knocked down a quick jumper to make it 89-86 with 1:03 to play. Clarion got a stop and a clean rebound on the defensive end of the floor but couldn't convert on the opposite end of the floor, with DayLynn Thornton missing a jumper with 25 seconds left. The Redhawks made their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.
 
Autumn Taylor came off the bench and scored a team-high 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including a 5-of-11 mark from three-point range. The Golden Eagles' high scoring effort was buoyed by three other double-digit scoring performances, with Malayziah Etheredge and Rougeau each scoring 15 points, while Heather Ansell notched a career-high 12 points. Clarion shot 42.3 percent from the field and 43.6 percent from three-point range, but the Redhawks maintained a slightly better pace in the win.
 
The first two quarters played out as mirror images of one another, with the Golden Eagles getting the better of the Redhawks in the first and Roberts Wesleyan turning the tables in the second. Clarion exploded to an early double-digit lead, ripping off a 16-5 run midway through the quarter to seize the early momentum. Ansell got the run started with a three-pointer, taking a kickout from Malayziah Etheredge and draining a shot from the corner at the 4:47 mark. Etheredge polished off an and-one less than a minute later, scoring through contact from Danielle DiCintio, and Hannah Wilkerson drove and scored at the 3:23 mark to make it 22-11.
 
The rally continued into the final minute of the first quarter, with Sadre'a Rougeau banging home a three-pointer after a pass from Wilkerson to up the Clarion lead to 29-13. That would be the high water mark for the Golden Eagles the rest of the way, though, as the Redhawks pulled their way back into the game. Georgia Haverlock made a three-pointer at the 9:18 mark of the second quarter to cut it to 33-22. The Golden Eagles fended off further advances, keeping a five-point lead after Autumn Taylor drained a three-pointer at the 4:16 mark, but Clarion was held without a field goal the rest of the half as the Redhawks took a 51-45 lead at the break.
 
The field goal drought ended shortly into the third quarter, as DayLynn Thornton took a pass from Etheredge and drilled a three-pointer to cut the lead to three points. Clarion scored three straight baskets to retake the lead, with Rougeau scoring on two straight possessions to put her team ahead 56-54. The latter basket came at the 6:28 mark after Wilkerson pulled down a defensive rebound and kicked ahead to Rougeau for a layup. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the quarter, with Taylor knocking down two more three-pointers to give her team a 68-66 lead at the end of the third.