MILLERSVILLE, Pa. --- Millersville Women's Basketball (2–3, PSAC 0–1) fell 79–71 to the undefeated Clarion Golden Eagles (6–0, PSAC 1–0) in a back-and-forth track meet inside Pucillo Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon in the opening game of a men's and women's Clarion double-header.

Millersville, despite being a young team, held the contest close until a late fourth-quarter surge by the Golden Eagles created a separation. Head Coach Kira Mowen expressed dissatisfaction with the team's rebounding performance, as the Marauders surrendered 16 offensive rebounds to a high-octane Clarion offense. The decisive factor, however, proved to be free-throw shooting. Clarion shot 75.9% on 29 attempts from the line, whereas Millersville finished at 59.1% on 22 attempts. Mowen addressed the free-throw concerns, stating, "Practice. All right, they hate our free throw shooting drill that we do for practice, but that's about to come for the next week… so they're probably doing it every day."

Clarion applied a high-pressure, full-court press throughout the contest. The Marauders successfully broke the press on numerous possessions but failed to convert early scoring chances created by those breaks. Mowen explained that despite the notion that presses produce open looks, she prefers to implement offensive structure when possible. She added, "If we can get it over it quickly and go, I want to go… But there's plenty of times late in the game that I thought we got it, and we should have just put our head down and went to the rim." The Marauders remained hesitant to attack downhill following press breaks, and in a game featuring more than 50 combined free throws, consistent rim pressure may have shifted the outcome.

Finally, Mowen emphasized the importance of limiting second-chance points. She identified the issue plainly: the team must adopt a more physical approach. "Loving body contact. And some of us do not. Some of my players do not. So it is, it's hard, it's passion, it's getting in there and pushing someone off the block so that essentially the ball should literally just drop at my feet, but we've got to work more and harder on that aspect." Millersville will look to improve in that area as conference play continues.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Daniella Ranieli and Aniya Eberhart led the way for the Marauders in scoring with 11 points each. 
• Millersville shot an inefficient 34.7% from the field, but held a great Clarion offense to an inefficient 37.7% from the field.
• Millersville out-rebounded Clarion 54-46. 

The Marauders' next match-up will be on the road against Wilmington next Friday, December 12, at 2 p.m.