To say the Park University Gilbert women's basketball has been decimated by injury and illness is an understatement. Coming into this afternoon's contest with SAGU-AIC, the Bucs only had six varsity players available.  Three of those six were feeling under the weather, so head coach Jeff Fore called up two players from his varsity reserve team to give the Buccaneers eight players for the game. Despite all of the adversity, the Buccaneers managed to overcome injury, illness, turnovers and a poor shooting day to beat the Warriors 75-61 at SAGU Arena in Phoenix, Ariz.

"This was very similar to the Southwest Christian game," said Fore. "We put ourselves in a hole, battled through some adversity but didn't give up and found a way to win."

Everything seemed to be going in the Bucs favor in the first quarter as they led 18-10 after the first frame.and built it up to 21-10 early in the second..  But then for the next nine minutes of the second quarter, there was a lid on the Bucs basket and the Warriors seemed to find the range as they built a 12-point lead 35-23 with 2:01 to go in the half.

Defense spurred by the two call ups led to an 11-3 run to close out the half as second year freshman Maddison Chappell made a steal which led to two free throws after a foul on the ensuing layup attempt. Then Destyni Payan making her varsity debut was fouled on a layup after the Bucs broke the Warriors press.  She made one of her two free throws and the lead was cut to nine. The Warriors came right back with 1:08 to hit a three to take the lead back to 12.  Then with 15 seconds to go the Bucs went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to four.  It started with a layup by Allison Hadaway with 14.9 seconds to go.  Then Payan stole a ball in the Warriors backcourt, stopped and popped from three and cut the lead to seven with 6.8 remaining.

The Bucs then caught a break as no one noticed with four seconds remaining the clock stopped running which should only happen after a made basket in the last minute of the fourth quarter.  Because it stopped it allowed Chappell to steal the inbounds pass, slide it over to Kayla Schroeder who hit nothing but nylon from three as the SAGU lead was cut to 38-34 at the half.

This was the first time Park has ever trailed SAGU at halftime in eight games and the home crowd seemed to be sensing an upset. The third quarter did nothing to quell those hopes for the Warrior fathful as the Bucs were able to cut the deficit by two but still trailed 50-48.

The Buccaneers started the fourth quarter with two possessions and two turnovers which brought the ire of their head coach who could be heard admonishing his charges to take better care of the basketball.  But what the Bucs needed was an influx of scoring and just as they had in the fourth quarters against Southwest Christian and Lincoln, the Bucs were able to take it to a different level and their opposition could not join them there. 

Schroeder started with a three-ball from the left corner pocket to give Park its first lead since the 5:43 mark in the second quarter. A hoop and harm three-point play put the Warriors back up by two. But on the Bucs next possession Schroeder nailed a long three from the right foul line extended to flip the lead back in the Bucs favor. Chappell then had a steal and fed Macy Markus for a layup to extend the lead. Another basket by Markus on a putback and layup by Carlee Meiner on a break put the Bucs up 60-54.

The Warriors would not yet go quietly into that sweet night as they went on a 7-0 run to reclaim the lead 61-60.  They retook the lead on a three-point basket with exactly 4 minutes remaining in the game. That basket would be the last time the Warriors would score in the game.  The Bucs would answer 10 seconds later with a layup by Chappell to take the lead for good 62-61. That would be the first basket of a 15-0 run to finish the game.

The Bucs outscored the Warriors 27-11 in the fourth quarter to turn the two-point deficit at the start of the quarter to a 14-point win 75-61 at the end of the game. 

The Buccaneers are currently on a four-game winning streak ahead of their next game against Arizona Christian on Tuesday, December 7 at 7:30 p.m. at The PHHacility in Phoenix, Ariz. The Buccaneers lost to the Firestorm a month ago at ACU 99-81.