MANSFIELD, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle women's basketball team opened Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) action on the road on Friday, falling 82-71 to Mansfield at Marion Decker Gymnasium. Clarion rebounded from a tough first half with better play in the second, but could not make up the deficit against the Mounties.
 
Abby Gatesman tied her career-high with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting, with the senior forward going off for six three-pointers on 10 attempts. She also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds, with that total representing a new career-high. DayLynn Thornton notched 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, and Hannah Wilkerson tacked on 14 points.
 
The Golden Eagles outscored the Mounties 39-33 in the second half, at one point cutting Mansfield's lead down to nine points. That happened at the 7:21 mark of the second half, when Hannah Wilkerson drove the lane after a Jaylyn Twitty steal and scored a transition bucket to make it 49-40. It was still a relatively close game with 4:31 left to play, after Autumn Taylor kicked a pass out to Dominika Logue for a trey that cut the Mounties' lead to 56-46. Mansfield extended that lead to 15 points before the end of the third quarter, and led by as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter.
 
Clarion battled back again in the final period, though, largely at the free throw line. The Golden Eagles went 14-of-16 at the charity stripe in the final period, allowing them to narrow the deficit against the Mounties. Thornton did most of the damage there, going a combined 7-of-9 from the free throw line in the game. She added a make with 13 seconds remaining, taking a pass from Hannah Wilkerson and laying it in to make it 80-71, but the Mounties tacked on two more points before the final buzzer to set the deficit.
 
The Mounties opened the game with a wave of momentum, outscoring Clarion 12-1 in the first four minutes and change. The Golden Eagles pulled back to within single digits with 3:07 left to go in the first quarter, after Wilkerson laid in a bucket to make it 18-11, but the Mounties carried a 26-14 lead into the second period of play. Gatesman cut it to 31-21 with a three-pointer at the 6:54 mark of the second, but that would be as close as it got for the rest of the half as Mansfield built a 49-32 lead. Read Full Article