ERIE, Pa. --- The Golden Eagles women's basketball team started out tight with their nationally-ranked opponent on the road on Wednesday night, but they could not keep pace with #7/13 Gannon as the Golden Knights won 71-56 at the Highmark Events Center.
 
For the better part of the first half, Clarion kept toe-to-toe with the Golden Knights, trailing by just one possession with under five minutes to go in the second quarter. Clarion trailed 12-5 in the first quarter but closed that period on an 8-2 run, pulling to within one point. Autumn Taylor sank a second-chance jumper with 3:30 to go in the first quarter and Alyssa Terza drained a three-pointer a minute later. DayLynn Thornton scored just before the buzzer, making a jumper in the paint to cut Gannon's lead to 14-13 after 10 minutes.
 
That back-and-forth action continued into the second quarter, with the Golden Eagles going on a 7-0 run at one point to take the lead. Hannah Wilkerson kicked off the run with a bucket and Madison Palek scored off an offensive rebound to make it 19-17. On the next trip down the floor Arianna Seitz knocked down a fast break three-pointer, giving her side a 20-19 edge with 6:36 left in the first half. Seitz added two free throws later in the half to tie the score at 22-22, and it was still a one possession game after Taylor sank two free throws with 4:55 to go to cut Gannon's advantage to 27-24.
 
The Golden Knights went on a 14-5 run to close the second quarter, increasing their lead to double-digits and never again allowing to drop below 10 points. Thornton struck with a three-pointer at the 7:26 mark of the third quarter to cut it to 44-33, but the Golden Knights scored 11 of the next 13 points to take a 20-point lead with three minutes to play in the third quarter.  A run in the fourth quarter brought the deficit to nearly that point again, with Terza and Zoe Guice scoring on back-to-back possessions to make it 55-41. Guice scored again with 7:42 to play in regulation to make it a 13-point game, and Palek made a shot with under a minute to go that made it 66-55.
 
Guice led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 12 points and also finished with a game-high eight steals, as well as four assists. Her eight steals were the most in a single game for a Clarion player since Allison Stodart had nine steals against Ashland on Nov. 21, 2000. Seitz scored 11 points while Taylor finished with 10 points. Terza logged six points and a team-high seven rebounds.
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