BLOOMSBURG, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle women's basketball team lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer on Saturday afternoon, falling 81-79 to Bloomsburg on a last-second shot in the fourth quarter. Clarion led from from the middle of the third quarter until the very end, when the Huskies' Ella Kale sank a floater in the paint with no time remaining.
 
For most of the second half, it seemed like the story would be the Golden Eagles' comeback from a double-digit deficit, as Clarion outscored Bloomsburg 47-33 over the course of the second and third quarters. The Huskies built an 12-point lead early in the second quarter, with Allison Hileman's jumper at the 8:19 mark making it 28-16. Sadre'a Rougeau cut the lead to single-digits at the 7:28 mark, and DayLynn Thornton scored with 6:33 left to go in the first half to make it 28-27. Autumn Taylor drove the lead down to a single possession with a three-pointer late in the half, and Dominika Logue added a trey of her own with 37 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 36-33 heading into halftime.
 
That momentum carried over into the third quarter where Clarion broke through and took the lead. Hannah Wilkerson tied the game at 43 with a make at the 6:31 mark and Abby Gatesman put the team ahead with a pair of free throws less than a minute later. Logue made it a two-possession ballgame at the 3:14 mark with a three-pointer and the Golden Eagles continued to pile on, with Gatesman draining a trey on the fast break to give her side a 62-52 lead. The lead ballooned to 14 points before the end of the quarter, with Gatesman sinking a pair of free throws with just a few seconds to play to make it 69-55.
 
Wilkerson increased Clarion's lead to as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter, scoring in the paint just 78 seconds into the period to make it 72-55. The Huskies chipped away at that lead steadily over the remainder of the quarter, holding the Golden Eagles to just seven more points the rest of the way. Hileman put the deficit in single digits with a fast break bucket at the 4:23 mark, and Maddie LaFrance eventually tied it at 79 with a three-pointer with just nine seconds to play.
 
With the score knotted up, the Golden Eagles lost the ball on the inbounds play in the offensive end, with Katelin Starr stealing the ball with seven seconds to go. Kale drove the lane as time expired, scoring to give the Huskies the improbable win.
 
Wilkerson scored a team-high 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Rougeau came off the bench for 17 points, six rebounds and three steals in 34 minutes of play. Gatesman never came off the floor, playing all 40 minutes and contributing 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds.
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