Basketball is back and the Park University Gilbert women's basketball team started the year off with a bang, throttling Ottawa University Arizona 89-49 at The PHHacility in Phoenix, Ariz. this evening to open its season.

"This was a good start," said Buccaneers Head Coach Jeff Fore. "We did a lot of things well tonight, but there are still plenty of things to work on and we did not have five players who we expect will see significant minutes for us down the line."

The Buccaneers (1-0) jumped out early 12-4  before Ottawa (0-3) went on an 8-3 run to close the gap to three points where it would be at the end of the first quarter. Behind a full court pressure defense, Park used a 22-10 second quarter to break the game open and never looked back.

The second half was not any different from the first as Park Gilbert's continual pressure forced the Spirit into bad shots or turnovers as the Bucs outscored OUAZ 49-24 in the second half. The Buccos 26 fourth quarter points were more than Ottawa scored the entire second half and the 49 second half points were as many as the Spirit scored for the game.

The 40-point margin of victory was the second largest margin of victory in Park Gilbert history, only behind a 42-point triumph over SAGU-AIC on January 18, 2020.

For the game, Park shot 45 percent from the floor and solid 40 percent from beyond the arc. But for as solid as the Bucs were offensively, they overwhelmed the Spirit with their defensive pressure. They forced 28 turnovers (16 steals) and turned that into 26 points on the offensive end. One of the calling cards for the Buccaneers this season will be it depth on the bench. Despite missing five players who are expected to see significant time on the floor when they return, the Park Gilbert bench outscored the OUAZ bench 36-23. 

Individually, Elise Young who has led the Bucs in scoring in both of their years of existence, continued to show why she is so good. She posted 23 points on the evening, her 20th career game with 20 or more points. Young also added five rebounds and four steals, shot 50 percent from the floor (7-14) and 90 percent from the free throw line (9-10).

Two freshman, Kayla Schroeder, and Kianna Turenne each added 13 points off the bench as both players were perfect from beyond the arc going 3-3 from long range. Turenne also showed she can get after it on the glass pulling down six boards. Another freshman Kendyl Abel added seven points and a team high nine rebounds in her debut.

Junior transfer Macy Markus scored nine points in her debut and dished out three assists. Jasmine Kelly tallied eight points and seven boards in.

Every Buc who played tonight scored as they were able to spread the wealth in the scoring department.

Park Gilbert now goes on the road for the next three weeks. They start with an instate matchup with Arizona Christian on Thursday, November 4 before embarking on two long road trips to Utah, Idaho, and Colorado. The Buccaneers will face Division I teams Utah Valley (Nov. 9) and Idaho State (Nov. 13) before playing in the Al Kaly Classic at Division II Colorado State Pueblo. There they will face CSU-Pueblo (Nov. 19) and Colorado Mesa (Nov. 20). The game with Idaho State will be broadcast on ESPN+.