The Park University Gilbert women's basketball team dropped a non-conference contest to Trinity International this afternoon 66-53 at The PHHacility in Phoenix, Ariz. With the loss the Buccaneers record drops to 8-6, while the Trojan improve to 6-8.

Despite the final 13-point deficit, the game was competitive throughout the first three quarters as Park led after the first frame, then TIU held a two-point advantage at half time and a three-point lead after three quarters.  In the fourth quarter, the Bucs defense let them down as the Trojan shot 62 percent from the floor in the final stanza to outscore the Bucs 24-14 to close out the game. 

If you want to look at where the Bucs lost this game, you can easily look to two categories.  Offensive rebounds and free throws.  TIU corralled 13 offensive boards which led to seven second chance points. The Trojans out rebounded the Buccaneers overall by 10 (43-33). At the charity stripe, the Trojans had nine more attempts and made six more shots at the line. 

 Hayley Valencia was dominant offensively for the Bucs this afternoon, scoring 17 points, with six rebounds and four assists. Macy Markus had 11 points and three steals and Kayla Schroeder kicked in with seven points and five boards.  Valerie Van Dijk scored six points and pulled down six boards off the bench. Jayla Reliford who arrived this morning after having three of her flights cancelled trying to get back from holiday break, scored six points in limited minutes.

As a team, Park Gilbert shot 40 percent from the floor (22-55), but only 20 percent (2-10) from beyond the arc and 58 percent from the line (7-12). TIU finished at 41 percent (24-58) from the floor, 28 percent from three (5-18) and 62 percent from the line (13-21).

This was the last non-conference game for the Buccaneers before starting conference play. Park has one more non-conference game with Ottawa (Ariz.) in January.  The Bucs are expected to get many of the players back who have been out injured for the last month.  The Bucs projected starting backcourt of Destinee Vigil and Elise Young are expected back at practice on Monday along with defensive stopper Kianna Turenne and junior Jasmine Kelly. The return of those four players will help the Bucs lengthen their bench and allow them more freedom defensively.

Park Gilbert will commence conference play with a home game against Embry Riddle on Saturday, January 8 at 6:30 p.m. This will be the first matchup between the two teams since the Buccaneers first year as a program.  The Eagles won both games in the 2019-20 season.