INDIANA, Pa. --- The Golden Eagle women's basketball team started things off with a promising first quarter, but Clarion ultimately dropped the season finale in falling 82-56 to IUP at the Kovalchick Center on Saturday.
 
The first quarter featured a good defensive battled between the two sides, with Clarion keeping it to a 14-13 lead for the Crimson Hawks through 10 minutes of play. IUP tightened things up in the second quarter, though, exploding for a 15-1 run to start the period to build a lead that the Golden Eagles could not erase.
 
Autumn Taylor led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 14 points, and she also logged three assists and two steals in the final game of the year. DayLynn Thornton and Malayziah Etheredge both scored eight points, while Siara Conley recorded eight rebounds.
 
Taylor helped fuel Clarion's good start to the game, at one point hitting back-to-back jumpers to put the Golden Eagles ahead 6-5. Etheredge followed up later in the quarter with an old-fashioned three-point play, scoring a bucket through contact from Macie Jarrett and making the ensuing free throw to make it a 12-11 game. McLellon finished off the scoring for the Golden Eagles in the first quarter, scoring with 1:50 left to make it 14-13.
 
The Crimson Hawks came back with a vengeance in the second quarter, holding Clarion without a field goal until Sadre'a Rougeau's make at the 5:02 mark of the period. Hannah Wilkerson and Etheredge added buckets for a 6-0 mini-run that pulled the Golden Eagles back within single-digits, with Etheredge scoring in the paint at the 3:13 mark to make it 29-22. Thornton scored with 2:51 to go to make it an eight-point game, but the Crimson Hawks scored the final seven points of the half to take a 39-24 lead into the locker room.
 
Things were still somewhat in hand midway through the third quarter, after Taylor made a three-pointer at the 4:49 mark to cut the deficit to 51-32. IUP finished the third quarter outscoring 23-11, though, and the Crimson Hawks held onto the large lead through the final 10 minutes.
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