The Park University Gilbert women's basketball team dropped its second game in a row in conference play on the road, losing to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University 78-67 at Eagles Gym in Prescott, Ariz., this afternoon.

With the loss, the Bucs drop below .500 at 5-6 overall and 1-2 in the Great Southwest Athletic Conference.

The Bucs got off to a slow start for the second game in a row and the Eagles were hot from the jump as ERAU won the first quarter 23-12. Park shot only 17 percent in the quarter while Embry Riddle posted a 47 percent percentage from the floor.

The second quarter saw the Bucs improve on their shooting and they managed to cut into the deficit by outscoring the Eagles 20-18 and trailed at the half by nine, 41-32. Park shot 50 percent from the floor in the quarter and held Embry Riddle to 39 percent. Where the Bucs hurt themselves was at the charity stripe where they went 3-10 in the quarter. Freshman Symirah Gray (7) and senior Hemani Kalia (6) led the scoring for the Bucs in the half.

The third quarter was a different story for the Bucs as they came out and didn't rely solely on the three-pointer to attempt to come back. They took threes when they were open in the flow of the offense, but they utilized their advantage in speed to get to the paint and score or kick it out to shooter. The Bucs outscored the Eagles 23-15 to cut the lead to one at the end of the quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter the Buccaneers finally brought things all the way back, tying the score at 58-58 with an Allie Cummings three-pointer at 8:52. But then their shots went cold for the next four minutes. During this drought, the Eagles went on a 7-0 run to make the score 65-58 and the Eagles would not trail again. The Eagles outscored the Bucs 20-9 over the last eight minutes of the game to take the victory.

Allie Cummings and Gray led the Bucs with 13 points and Cummings added three steals. Alynna Palacios corralled nine boards to pace the Bucs on the glass.

Park finished the game shooting 33 percent from the floor, 21 percent (8-38) from beyond the arc, but missed 10 free throws (15-25) to shoot 60 percent from the line. Embry Riddle shot 41 percent from the floor, 39 percent from three (7-18) and 94 percent (17-18) from the line.

Up next for the Buccaneers is an exhibition game against Northern Arizona on Monday, December 15 at 6 p.m. This will be the Bucs last game until the new year as the Buccaneers matchup with Westcliff will not be played as the Warriors had to forfeit due to lack of enough players due to injury.