(Mesa, AZ) The Park University Gilbert women’s basketball team won its third game in a row after having its last contest postponed due to a power outage. Today, the Buccaneers (5-10, 3-6) stifled the University of Saint Katherine Firebirds (8-8, 3-7), holding them to 31 percent shooting from the floor in a 62-56 win at Bell Bank Park.
“This was a team effort today,” said Buccaneers head coach Jeff Fore. “We got help from everyone. JJ on the boards, Macy is really starting to round into form, Maddie continues to be a problem for teams and Jayla was dynamic tonight.”
The first half saw both teams struggle from the floor as the two squads only scored 10 points each in the first quarter. The second frame wasn’t much better as the Bucs held a two-point 22-20 lead at the half. The Bucs only shot 30 percent for the first half only making eight shots from the floor.
The second half saw the Bucs start to find some consistency on the offensive end as Jayla Reliford led the way with eight points on 4-4 shooting in the third quarter. The Bucs shot 69 percent from the floor and outscored the Firebirds 19-13 to take an eight-point advantage into the fourth quarter.
The Buccaneers have held the lead going into the fourth quarter eight times prior to this games. The Bucs were 4-4 in those contests. There was no guarantee this lead would lead to victory. The Firebirds attempted to make the fourth quarter interesting as they had their best quarter of the game, scoring 23 points, more than they had scored in the entire first half. When the Buccaneers have lost their fourth quarter leads it was due to poor shooting. Tonight, Park Gilbert kept pace with USK by shooting 54 percent themselves from the floor and going 7-10 from the charity stripe. USK cut the lead to three with 7:34 to go in the game, but would not get any closer as the Bucs would go on a 9-0 run to increase the lead to 12 and cruise home for the six-point triumph.
Macy Marcus led the way with 17 points, but the Bucs had four players in double figures. Reliford, who is third in the nation in assists per game at 6.4, posted 14 points, six assists and pulled down six rebounds. Madison Chappell was one rebound short of her fourth consecutive double-double with 12 points and nine boards. Kianna Turenne came off the bench to score 13 points.
This win is the third in a row for the Buccaneers after a 10-game losing skid. The three wins all came in conference and put the Bucs only a game and a half out of the final playoff spot for the conference tournament despite losing its first six games in league play. The Bucs own the overall series with the Firebirds 5-0.
The Bucs now head on the road for its next two contests as they take on La Sierra (Jan. 19) and Antelope Valley (Jan. 20). Park Gilbert lost to both of those squads back in early December in the early stages of conference play. The Bucs hope to return the favor this week as they look to continue to crawl back up the standings in the Cal Pac.
Press Release courtesy of Park University Athletics – Preston English
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