CLARION, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles women's basketball team won their fifth straight game with a dominant offensive effort, beating Mansfield 89-62 in their 2024-25 PSAC opener at Tippin Gymnasium. The Clarion bench went off for the majority of the Golden Eagles' points as they outlasted the Mounties.
 
Of the 89 points scored by the Golden Eagles, the bench accounted for 55 of them, led by a team-high 18 points from DayLynn Thornton. She went 6-og-10 from the field in just 20 minutes of action, including a 2-of-3 mark from three-point range. Madison Palek went 6-of-12 for 15 points, and also recorded seven rebounds and three blocked shots, in 20 minutes of play, while Hannah Wilkerson scored 13 points in 13 minutes off the bench. Those three represented the bulk of the scoring for Clarion, while Autumn Taylor kicked in 13 points.
 
The Golden Eagles shot 46.4 percent from the field against the Mounties while holding their opponent to just 30.6 percent shooting. Mansfield's Katie Sheeler had a game-high 22 points and Sarah Hortin scored 17 points, but the rest of the team accounted for just 23 total points.
 
Clarion kicked off the game with an 11-4 run, with Palek taking a feed from Zoe Guice and laying it in to punctuate the early rally. The Mounties cut the deficit down to 13-10 but that was the extent of their comeback in the first quarter as the Golden Eagles outscored them 10-3 the rest of the way. Wilkerson finished off an and-one at the 4:01 mark to make it 16-10, and Thornton sank a three-pointer with 48 seconds left to make it 21-11. Thornton scored again with three seconds remaining in the first quarter to keep it a double-digit game.
 
Mansfield showed good fight in the second quarter, cutting the game to 33-30 on a bucket by Sheeler with under four minutes to go in the first half. Thornton countered with a second-chance bucket on the next possession, draining a three-pointer after Siara Conley pulled down an offensive rebound, and Wilkerson finished at the hoop a minute later to make it 38-30. Palek made a jumper later in the period to give Clarion a 40-33 lead but the Mounties made it a two-possession game before the break.
 
That was the extent of it as Clarion blew past the Mounties in the third quarter, outscoring Mansfield 27-10 in that period. Cook made it 44-34 with a make early in the quarter, and Taylor extended the lead to 15 points with a bucket. Thornton continued her torrid scoring pace with a make at the 3:10 mark of the quarter, pushing the lead up over 20 points, and Palek made it 67-44 with a free throw late in the period. The Golden Eagles cruised down the stretch in the fourth quarter for the win.
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