The Park University Gilbert women's basketball team overcame injuries and 26 turnovers to beat a game Lincoln University squad 76-59 in the final game of the Buccaneer Classic at The PHHacility in Phoenix, Ariz. The Buccaneers went 2-0 in the classic, Lincoln lost both of its games in the tournament.

Park University Gilbert women's basketball coach Jeff Fore is probably starting to thin his name is Hawkeye Pierce because his team is turning into a M*A*S*H* unit.  The Bucs were already without the services of starting guards Destinee Vigil (concussion) and Elise Young (ankle) due to injury, not to mention talented freshman Anna Poe (concussion) and last night, backup point guard Jayla Reliford fell sick. Then in the first quarter of today's contest another backup guard and arguably the Bucs best defender, Kianna Turenne crumpled to the ground in agonizing pain after twisting her ankle.

"It's unfortunate," said Fore. "Sometimes you have years like this where you get hit by the injury bug. But we have a talented and deep team with players who can step in and produce."

One of the starters who isn't injured (fingers crossed) is junior Macy Markus who set new career highs with 26 points and six rebounds. Another regular starter freshman Hayley Valencia posted her first career double-double with 16 points and a new career high in rebounds with 12. Junior Jasmine Kelly also posted her first double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The 10 rebounds for Kelly ties a career high set in the Bucs very first game as a program against Benedictine-Mesa. The other regular starter, center Kendyl Abel set her career high for rebounds with 10.

Park Gilbert (4-5) got off to a good start taking 17-11 lead after the first quarter, shooting 46 percent from the floor with Markus leading the way scoring eight.

The Bucs shooting cooled in the second quarter (38 percent) but they were able to still maintain a four-point halftime advantage by holding the Oaklanders (1-6) to 35 percent from the field.

The Bucs shot 56 percent from the floor in the third quarter, but turned it over eight times to allow Lincoln to not only stay in the game but cut the lead to two (53-51) despite only shooting 34 percent from the floor.  

The fourth quarter saw the Buccaneers continue their hot shooting as the hero from yesterday's game Kayla Schroeder torched the Oaklanders for 10 points in the quarter and the team shot 50 percent from the floor.  Park who had already held the Lincoln to under 35 percent for the game, took it up another notch defensively, limiting Lincoln to only two field goals, 10 percent from the floor and eight points for the quarter.   

For the game, the Bucs shot 47.5 percent from the floor (29-61) and rebounded from their poor free throw shooting yesterday to hit 74 percent (14-19) from the line this afternoon. The Buccaneers dominated the Oaklanders on the glass with 51 boards to only 39 for Lincoln. 

Up next is another contest with a Division I team as the Bucs travel up the road in Phoenix to take on Grand Canyon on December 1 at 6 p.m.  This will be the third game for the Buccaneers against Division I competition this year.

Game Notes:

Buccaneer Classic Records and Results

Park Gilbert 2-0

Embry Riddle 1-1

Southwestern Christian 1-0

Lincoln 0-2

Day 1

Embry Riddle def. Lincoln, 103-94

Park Gilbert def. Southwestern Christian, 81-78 OT

Day 2

Southwestern Christian def. Embry Riddle, 67-58

Park Gilbert def. Lincoln, 76-59