The Park University Gilbert women's basketball team still hampered by injury and illness dropped a non-conference game against Arizona Christian 75-62 at The PHHacility in Phoenix, Ariz.  The loss is only the second to NAIA competition for the Bucs this season, both to ACU.  Park Gilbert's record is now 5-4 overall.

The game was a back and forth affair with the two teams exchanging the lead on multiple occasions in both the first and second quarters.  The first quarter which ended knotted at 22, saw both teams shoot 44 percent from the floor, and made three shots from three-point range.  The Bucs made all five of their free throws while the Firestorm (6-4) shot 3-6 from the charity stripe.  Macy Markus led the Buccaneers with nine points in the quarter.

In the second quarter saw Park go on an 8-3 run to start the quarter and take a 30-25 lead.  After the Firestorm cut the lead to two, Park scored six of the next eight points to take a six-point advantage 36-30.

Carlee Meiner made the layup which gave the Bucs the six-point lead with 2:50 remaining in the second quarter.  The Buccaneers would go scoreless for the next eight minutes and 11 seconds of the game. But in that time, ACU went on a 21-0 run, 7-0 to end the second quarter and go into halftime with a 37-36 lead, then a 14-0 run to start the third quarter to hold a 15-point advantage.  Markus, who scored 16 points in the context picked up her fourth foul two minutes into the third quarter and had to sit out the duration of the frame.  Losing her offense was a key component in the Bucs shooting woes. 

The Bucs were 0-15 from the floor in that stretch and put themselves in a hole they could not climb out of this time.  ACU outscored the Bucs 21-11 in the third quarter and Park did not have a fourth quarter come back in the cards for this contest.

Kayla Schroeder led the Bucs with her third game where she set a career-high in points in the Bucs last four contests with 21 points on the night. Maddison Chappell, who posted a triple-double in the Bucs last game, came close to a double-double tonight with nine points and nine rebounds.  Her playing time was limited as she was in foul trouble and did not log the minutes she normally would have under normal circumstances. Jayla Reliford returned to the lineup after missing the last two games due to illness and led the team with five assists.

Up next for the Buccaneers is a non-conference road game with Cal Pac Conference foe Saint Katherine in San Marcos, Calif.  The game starts at 6 p.m. Mountain time, 5 p.m. Pacific.