Playing without your normal starting backcourt, check. Down by 13 points in the first half, check.  Shoot 8-of 23 from the free throw line for the game, check.  If you saw those three stats, you might think the Park University Gilbert women's basketball team was taken out to the woodshed in its matchup with Southwestern Christian University in the second game of the day in the Buccaneer Classic hosted by Park Gilbert.  But the Buccaneers, behind some fantastic freshman and a cold blooded three-point assassin, fashioned a comeback for the ages beating the Eagles (4-2) in overtime 81-78 at The PHHacility in Phoenix, Ariz.

"We are playing a lot of really young players," said Buccaneers head coach Jeff Fore. "But if you look at the group that brought us back, it was an all-freshman group. Something just clicked, we called a time out and we just convinced them that they just have to believe. They are talented enough to beat anybody in the country."  

The Buccaneers (3-5) played this game without two of their regular starters, Senior Destinee Vigil who has missed the last four games with a concussion and junior Elise Young, the Bucs all-time leading scorer who is out with an ankle injury.  This gave freshman Kayla Schroeder the first start of her career and she played as though she was a seasoned veteran. Schroeder led the team with 19 points and nine rebounds, including the game winning three-pointer which put the Bucs up for good with 2.5 seconds left in overtime.

The game however, did not get off to a rousing start for Bucs, as they trailed by six after the first quarter despite solid shooting from the floor (6-13).  But as would be the theme throughout the game, free throws put Park Gilbert behind the eight ball and made the game a harder on itself. The Buccos only made 3-10 shots from the charity stripe in the first frame.   Coming into the contest, the Bucs were shooting 63 percent as a team.

The second quarter saw the Bucs fall behind by as many as 13 before bringing the deficit down to seven at the half.  Park was only outscored by one 16-15 in the second stanza as the stats were pretty even across the board in the quarter.

The third quarter was not much different as the Buccaneers were only able to cut into the deficit by one, but you could see some slight changes in the landscape of momentum. The Bucs forced seven turnovers in the quarter, forced a lower shooting percentage from the Eagles and valued ball security on their end only coming four turnovers themselves.

The fourth quarter is where Park Gilbert showed its never give up mindset in orchestrating this miraculous comeback.  The quarter did not look good at the start as SWCU rebuilt the lead back up to 13, 63-50 with 5:11 to go in the quarter.

A defensive switch, putting freshman Kianna Turenne on Southwestern Christian's Tammy Andrade sparked a 12-2 run which included seven points from Turenne, brought the Bucs back to within three 65-62 with 1:55 remaining in regulation time. SWCU would not go away, taking a five-point lead with just under one-minute remaining.  Park then had to foul as they needed to stretch the game out. A free throw by Abby Phibbs made it a six-point deficit for the Bucs with 36 seconds remaining.  Hayley Valencia made a quick layup to cut it to four.  After a timeout, SWCU advanced the ball to half court for its inbounds play. Turenne picked Andrade's pocket, which led to a Schroeder layup and the Eagles lead was now only two with 13 ticks on the clock. Jayla Reliford fouled the Eagles Christina Jenkins, who missed the front end of her two free throws, and then was called for a lane violation on her second as she jumped into the lane early which was unfortunate for the Eagles as she made the shot which ultimately did not count and allowed the Buccaneers to cling to life with one last opportunity to tie or win the game. 

Fore took a 30-second time out after the miss to advance the ball to half court. Valencia had been unstoppable in getting to rim most of the day and the Bucs ran a play to take care of her unique set of skills.  Valencia not only got to the rim and scored, she was fouled and would have an opportunity to give the Bucs their first lead of the day with 2.5 seconds remaining. Valencia would miss off the back rim and the Eagles would come down with the rebound and have one last opportunity themselves to walk away with the win. SWCU ran a play for its sharp shooting guard Tresha Yager, but her long range contested shot hit the side of the rim and fell harmlessly as time ran out.

Forty minutes played and the game was headed to overtime.  This was only the second overtime in Park Gilbert women's basketball history.  The last time was in the Bucs inaugural year when they beat La Verne in double overtime 107-105.

To this point, the Bucs had never led in the contest.  But overtime turned into the Freshman Show, as the Bucs youth scored all 11 points in the overtime. Park took its first lead on a jumper by Schroeder off of a screen by Kendyl Abel which would become a theme.  She then followed that with a three-pointer off of an in and out play with Abel in the post.  After an Eagle turnover, Turenne got in on the action with a layup off of a no-look pass from Macy Markus. At this point with 1:51 to go and a seven-point lead, you feel pretty good about your chances.  But this was not going to be a game without drama to the very end. 

The Eagles would answer with an 8-0 run to retake the lead.  A couple of bad fouls on the part of the Bucs, gave SWCU five points at the charity stripe with the clock stopped. Then down 77-75 with 18 seconds remaining, Andrade got a hoop with some harm, as she drove to the basket to score the tying bucket, plus got hacked in the act by Turenne. Andrade completed a perfect day at the line, going 13-13 and the final free throw put the Eagles back on top by one with 18 second left.

But the Bucs had one final answer.  After a timeout to advance the ball past half court.  The Bucs ran its offense as normal and the ball ended up in Schroeder's hands off a pass from Abel.  Abel then set a screen for Schroeder and when her defender tried to work under the pick, Schroeder pulled up from three and drained a go ahead three-pointer with 3 seconds to go.

"Kendyl set a great screen," said Schroeder. "I knew I was open and knew we needed that point so I took it and knew my teammates were there for the rebound."

After SWCU threw away an inbounds pass in its attempt to tie.  They fouled Valencia on the other end off the Bucs inbounds pass to send her to the line with a chance to ice the game with 2.1 seconds remaining. Valencia was 2-5 on the day prior to these free throws.  The first touched nothing but nylon, before the second shot careened off the rim and rebounded by SWCU's Gillian Snowder.  Without any timeouts left, Snowder tried to heave the ball down court for one last desperation shot.  But Valencia knowing her shot was off line, followed the ball and swatted the pass right back into Snowden. By the time she got off another pass, time had expired and the Bucs celebrated an improbable, but well-earned victory. 

Five Buccaneers scored in double figures. In addition to Schroeder's 19/9/3 slash line, Valencia posted 13 points and seven rebounds, Reliford had 11 points and five boards, Markus had 10 and Turenne had 12-points and added five thievish steals.

The Bucs shot 47 percent from the floor and made seven three pointers on 21 shots which was only one less than the number of free throws the Bucs made (8) on two more attempts (23). Park held SWCU to 40 percent from the floor and 21 from three.  The Eagles shot 21-26 from the line (80 percent) which kept them in the game.    

Day two of the Buccaneer Classic starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. with Embry Riddle taking on Southwestern Christian while the Bucs host Lincoln University at noon.  Embry Riddle beat Lincoln in the first game today 103-94.

Game Notes:

-Park Gilbert is now 2-0 in overtime games in its history.

- This is the longest Park has gone without ever holding a lead in win (41 minutes and 10 seconds).  The previous record was 34 minutes and 29 seconds in the Bucs 68-67 win over San Diego Christian in their first year.

- This is the second largest deficit ever overcome by the Bucs.  They trailed San Diego Christian by 14 in the second quarter of their 68-67 win in 2019-20.  The 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter today is the largest lead overcome in the fourth quarter.

-  The 19 points are a career high in points for Schroeder as were the nine rebounds.