Erie, PA- The Golden Eagles Women's Basketball team traveled to Erie for an MEC/PSAC crossover tournament where they went 1-1 on the weekend.
 
The Basics
Location: Mercyhurst Athletic Center
Score: UC 49 MU 41
Records: Charleston 1-0, MU 0-1
 
How it Happened
To start the 2021-22 season, the Golden Eagles headed to Mercyhurst in Erie, Pennsylvania for an MEC/PSAC crossover tournament. Charleston started the weekend off against Mercyhurst University.
 
The Saturday night match included every Golden Eagle touching the floor and 11 of those players saw double digit minutes.
 
The game was a defensive match the whole way through with both teams shooting below 33% from the floor. Charleston shut the paint down with 5 team blocks including three from senior Maggie Stephenson.
 
Charleston held a 34-17 lead going into the half shooting almost 40% from the field and 50% from three.
 
In the Second half the Golden Eagles cooled off quite a bit seeing only 21.4 % of their shots in the quarter. Yet the defensive held strong still making it three quarters of keeping Mercyhurst to 10 points or lower.
 
The Lakers used the 4th quarter to make things interesting cutting the lead to single digits.
 
Late game leadership paired with multiple second efforts on defense proved to be enough as Charleston was able to edge out a 49-41 victory. The Golden Eagles were able to hold Mercyhurst to sub 25% from the field and 19% from beyond the arc. A very balanced scoring game, including ten Golden Eagle players with points, gave Charleston a balanced attack that was enough to start the season 1-0.
 
The Basics
Location: Mercyhurst Athletic Center
Score: UC 54, CALPA 63
Records: Charleston 1-1, CALPA 2-0
 
How it Happened
On Sunday afternoon the Golden Eagles faced off with the Vulcans from California Universtiy of Pennsylvania.
 
The game started off with a very even matched first quarter. Charleston was able to make the most of the possessions they had, shooting 50 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three.
 
In the second quarter the Vulcans were able to connect more efficiently and while the Golden Eagles were able to create more shot attempts even though there was a percentage drop. Charleston was able to make a run, heading into the locker room only down by three.  
 
The second half was rough as the Vulcans went on an early run and extended their lead to double digits. Charleston answered by going on an 8-3 run of their own after a media timeout.
 
Points off turnovers and second chance points allowed Cal to outscore Golden Eagles 21-11 in the quarter and gave the Vulcans a 13-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
 
With both teams seeing key players in foul trouble both teams relied heavily on their bench with UC's bench outscoring Cal's 22-11.  Charleston was able to get good contributions late and continued to fight getting the game as close 6. The third quarter proved to dig too much of a hole as Charleston just could not erase the deficit.
 
The Golden Eagles would eventually fall to the Vulcans in a 63-54 final.
 
 
 
Up Next
The Golden Eagles will kick off conference play with a Saturday afternoon matchup against the Concord University Mountain Lions on November 20^th at 2:00pm.