SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles women's basketball team forced overtime after a seesaw battle in regulation, but Clarion fell behind in the extra session in losing 94-84 to Shippensburg at Heiges Field House. Clarion led for long portions of the game, including with 13 seconds remaining in regulation, but the Raiders rallied for the overtime victory.
For most of the contest the Golden Eagles were in firm control, and in fact Clarion had a 15-point advantage early in the fourth quarter. That came on the heels of a strong third quarter where the Golden Eagles outscored the Raiders 21-14, in large part because of 10 Shippensburg turnovers in the period that limited them to just 10 shots. Shippensburg chipped away at that lead, though, outscoring the Golden Eagles 29-17 in the fourth quarter by going a blistering 11-of-15 from the field.
Hannah Wilkerson blew up for a season- and career-high 30 points, coming off the bench to shoot 13-of-21 from the field. Alyssa Terza also cracked double-digits off the bench, scoring 10 points on 4-of-8 from the field and 2-of-5 from three-point range. Zoe Guice tacked on 17 points, seven steals, six rebounds and five assists to fill the stat sheet.
Clarion embarked on a 10-0 run midway through the first quarter to take the lead they held for much of the game. Wilkerson scored on back-to-back possessions to put her team ahead, including converting an and-one at the 4:16 mark to make it 10-6, and Terza drained a three-pointer to up the lead to 15-6. The advantage hovered around three possessions for most of the first half, though the Golden Eagles reached a 10-point lead early in the second quarter on a fast break bucket from Arianna Seitz. Shippensburg's Abbie Miller cut the deficit to 34-32 with under a minute to go in the half but Autumn Taylor sank a three-pointer with 12 seconds left to give her side a 37-32 lead at half.
The Golden Eagles bumped the lead back to double-digits over the course of the third quarter, going up 53-42 after Guice swiped the ball from Taja Colbert and went the other way for a layup. Seitz sparked another transition bucket later in the third quarter, stealing the ball from Abbie Johns and advancing it to Wilkerson for a make with 20 seconds to go. Wilkerson added a trey just before time expired in the third quarter, making it 58-46 with 10 minutes to go in regulation. The Raiders stormed back, taking a 73-71 lead with 32 seconds left on a bucket by Mia Johnson, but Wilkerson made it 75-73 with the old-fashioned three-point play. Taja Colbert tied the score at 75 to send it to overtime.
Clarion scored the first five points of the bonus session on a layup by Wilkerson and a three-pointer by Guice. Shippensburg responded with a huge 15-2 run, going up 90-82 after free throws from McKenzie Thomas, and the Raiders defended the lead the rest of the way.
