CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle women's basketball team kept it close through three quarters of action, but Clarion was unable to dig themselves out of an early hole in falling 75-60 to Lock Haven at Tippin Gym on Wednesday night.
 
As has been the case in some previous games, the Golden Eagles got off to a slow start against the Bald Eagles, but slow and surely chipped away at their opponents over the course of the last three quarters. Scoring off the bench was a major factor in the recovery, with Clarion outscoring Lock Haven 30-11 in bench points, but the Bald Eagles held a 19-12 edge in points off turnovers. Lock Haven also outscored Clarion 21-7 on the fast break.
 
Malayziah Etheredge scored a season-high 18 points to lead the Golden Eagles, coming off the bench to go 5-of-12 from the field and 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Hannah Wilkerson chipped in 15 points, including a 7-of-8 mark at the charity stripe. Abby Gatesman had a team-high seven rebounds to go with two steals.
 
The Golden Eagles kept battling after a tough first quarter, drawing the deficit into single digits after a bucket by Wilkerson at the 8:28 mark of the second. DayLynn Thornton scored on the next trip down the floor to make it a seven-point game, and Autumn Taylor pulled the team to within 21-15 on a three-pointer with 4:48 to go in the half. Bailey Matrascia kept the pressure on late in the half, taking a pass from Heather Ansell and laying it in to make it 23-18, but Lock Haven closed the half on an 11-3 run to set a halftime score of 34-21.
 
Lock Haven's lead ballooned to as many as 21 points in the third quarter, but the Golden Eagles finished the period on an 8-0 run to bring the score to a more manageable number. Etheredge had five of those eight points, scoring on an and-one and then sinking a pair of free throws with 50 seconds left in the quarter. Matrascia tacked on a three-pointer just before time expired in the third, taking a pass from Dominika Logue and sinking a trey to make it 56-43.
 
Etheredge finished off another and-one early in the fourth quarter, making it a 12-point game, and she scored in the paint with 8:24 to play to cut the score to 58-48, capping the Golden Eagles' 13-2 run. That was as close as things got the rest of the way, though, as the Bald Eagles gathered more steam near the end of regulation.