INDIANA, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles women's basketball team got off to a strong start on the road on Saturday, but IUP locked them down on defense as the game went on as the Crimson Hawks won 68-39 at the Kovalchick Center.
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Through 10 minutes, it looked like Clarion would be able to go toe-to-toe with the Crimson Hawks, a team that was nationally ranked earlier in the season and is still receiving votes in both national polls. IUP pulled away after a close first quarter, outscoring the Golden Eagles 20-5 in the second quarter en route to a convincing win.
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Clarion shot 42.9 percent from the field in the first quarter but struggled after that, and it took until the fourth quarter for the Golden Eagles to strike from three-point range.
Autumn Taylor led the team with seven points, while
Siara Conley and
Arianna Seitz both contributed six points.
Madison Palek contributed five points and a team-high six rebounds.
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The Crimson Hawks opened the game on a 10-4 run, but Clarion quickly bounced back to stay competitive with IUP. Taylor made a short jumper in the paint with 3:53 left to go in the first quarter to break the drought, and on the very next possession she drove the paint and scored to cut it to a two-point game. Conley and Seitz contributed buckets in the final 73 seconds of the period to pull within 16-12.
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Things began to get away from the Golden Eagles at that point, with Grace Centrulla opening the second quarter with a fast break bucket and a blocked shot on the defensive end. She added another bucket at the 6:24 mark to give the Crimson Hawks an 11-point lead, and the advantage eventually grew to 36-17 after a bucket by Shamia Strayhorn with under a minute to go in the half.
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The deficit hovered around 20 points early in the second half, with Seitz and Palek adding buckets to keep the deficit under that mark. Taylor scored down the stretch to make it 52-29 late in the third quarter, but the Crimson Hawks kept the pressure on in the fourth quarter to put the deficit just shy of 30 points.
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