The Park University Gilbert women's basketball team overcame a large first quarter deficit to send the game to overtime but lost to La Sierra 52-50 this evening in Riverside, Calif. The Buccaneers played for the second game in a row without 2025 GSAC Defensive Player of the Year in Alynna Palacios who is out with an injury.
La Sierra outscored Park 19-9 in the first quarter, but the Bucs returned the favor in the second (14-7) and third (12-10) quarters but still trailed by a point after the penultimate quarter.
The Bucs held the Eagles to only two field goals in the final quarter, but foul trouble put the Eagles to the line 10 times where they made eight free throws. Park on the other hand only had three free throws in the period, all made by Larken Hoar after she was fouled on a three-point shot.
The Bucs found themselves down three with 6.5 seconds to go. La Sierra chose not to foul even though a foul would have put the Bucs at the line for two free throws. Hemani Kalia took the in-bounds pass in the backcourt, dribbled across the center line and drilled an NBA range three to tie the game with 2.0 seconds to go. LSU was unable to get a shot up and the teams went to overtime.
This was the Bucs first overtime game in almost two years. The last time Park Gilbert went to extra time was on February 17, 2024 when the Bucs dropped a 66-63 contest at Simpson. This overtime was not pretty for either team as the Bucs missed all seven shots from the floor in the extra frame and La Sierra made one. Both teams made two free throws and the only field goal made the difference in the end.
Individually, the Bucs were led by Hoar and Jelissa Julmist who both posted double-doubles. Hoar (13 pts, 12 reb) posted a career high for rebounds and her second career double-double. Julmist (12 pts, 12 reb) posted her first career double-double and also posted a career high for rebounds.
The Bucs have yet to win on the road this season as they fall to 0-7 in such games this year. They hope to turn things around on Thursday when they travel to San Dimas, Calif., to take on Life Pacific on Thursday, February 12Â at 6:30 p.m.
