Big Second Half Paces Clarion Past Shippensburg
Golden Eagles outscore Red Raiders 44-21 in second half
CLARION – Clarion used a 23-6 second-half run to erase an 11-point second-half deficit and get a 72-58 win over visiting Shippensburg in PSAC-West women’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Tippin Gym.
Clarion (12-6 overall, 2-2 PSAC-West), which trailed 37-28 at halftime was down 39-28 in the first minute of the second half before going on the 23-6 run to take a 51-45 lead halfway through the second half. The Golden Eagles then expanded that lead to 11 points, 67-56, with 1:04 to play.
For the 12th time this season, Clarion had at least four players in double digits with Jessica Albanese recording a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds and adding three blocked shots. Sara Pratt had a team-high 18 points to go with seven rebounds and two blocked shots, while My’Kea Cohill had 17 points and six rebounds. Katrina Greer chipped in 14 points and six boards while going a perfect 8 of 8 from the line, and Ashley Grimm added five points and six assists while not turning the ball over.
Kasey Gardner had a game-high 20 points for Shippensburg (14-5, 2-2) but only four after halftime, while Lauren Beckley added 18 points and 15 rebounds but also only scored four points in the second half. Megan Fogle chipped in with 11 points.
Clarion returns to action Wednesday at Edinboro (5:30 p.m.)
NOTES – It was start number 101 for Grimm in her Clarion career … Clarion shot 22 of 26 from the free-throw line (84.6 percent). It was the seventh time this season the Golden Eagles have been above 80 percent from the line in a game and the 11th time they have shot at least 75 percent from the free-throw stripe … Albanese’s double-double was her fourth of the season but first since Jan. 2. The 11 rebounds tied a season-high for the senior, who Wednesday became the sixth player in school history to record 1,100 career points and 600 career rebounds … Pratt now has 46 blocked shots this season and 67 in her career. She ranks fifth in school history in blocks in a season and fourth at Clarion in career blocked shots. She is looking to become the first Golden Eagle to reach 80 blocks in a career since Heather Cigich had 82 from 2002-05 … Janelle Zabresky continued her good work off the bench with five points, eight rebounds and two blocks giving her 37 blocks this season, good for eighth in a season at Clarion and she now has 54 career blocked shots … Greer, a junior, is 10 points shy of 900 in her career, while Grimm now has 514 in her Clarion career.