CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle women's basketball team built a second-half lead, but Seton Hill prevailed in a wild finish as the Griffins held off Clarion by a 72-71 score in Tippin Gymnasium on Monday.
 
The home team rode a big run to start the third quarter in taking the advantage, as Clarion erased a small deficit to lead by as many as 11 points in the third quarter. The Golden Eagles scored 15 of the first 18 points of the second half, with Sierra Bermudez and Ava Haddad making it 43-36 on back-to-back possessions. Allyson Kirby hit a midrange jumper at the 4:18 mark of the third, giving Clarion a 48-37 advantage, and it was still an 11-point game with 1:47 left after Charjae Brock's bucket from the elbow made it 53-42.
 
The Griffins chipped away little by little, cutting the deficit to four points by the end of the third quarter. They retook the lead just two minutes into the fourth quarter, when Sakeria Haralson made a hook shot in the paint, but Clarion responded with five straight points to reclaim the advantage. Bermudez closed out that run with a three-pointer from the corner, taking a pass from Kirby and turning it into the long make, and Abby Gatesman scored on a backdoor pass from Brock with 1:06 remaining to put the Golden Eagles ahead 69-66.
 
Seton Hill's Christiane Frye raced down the floor and made a floater just inside the three-point line to cut the lead to one point, and Helene Cowan made a shot with 27 seconds remaining to put her team ahead. Kirby and Frye traded buckets on consecutive possessions, with Frye putting the Griffins up 72-71 with 10.7 seconds remaining. Bermudez and Gatesman missed on late shots on Clarion's final possession, sealing the Griffin win.
 
Bermudez and Kirby tied for the team-high with 19 points apiece. Bermudez was 7-of-14 from the field, including a 4-of-8 mark from three-point range, and also had three assists and a blocked shot. Kirby, meanwhile, finished with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, the latter of which represented a game-high.
 
Clarion got the better of the Griffins in the first quarter, outscoring them 16-14 in a seesaw battle. Olivia Boocks finished off an old-fashioned three-point play at the 3:48 mark of the quarter to put her team ahead 12-9, and Siara Conley made a jumper with 1:42 left in the period to close out the Golden Eagles' scoring. Seton Hill responded with improved play in the second quarter, as Courtney Tomas rattled off a strong scoring performance to put her team ahead heading into the locker room.
  Read Full Article