The Pirates were able to honor Laney Lupe and Dar'Juanah Harris during the pre-game, and both were in the starting mix today. Both of these seniors have spent the last two seasons at Park. Lupe hails from Whiteriver, Arizona, while her fellow senior is from Las Vegas, Nevada.



Park played a complete game for their fifth win of the season at 5-16 and 3-13 in the Heart of America Athletic Conference, while Graceland settles for 9-15 and 4-14 in the Heart.

This is the fourth meeting between these two schools, all since Park joined the Heart. The historical record is even at 2-2 with both teams undefeated on their home courts. Earlier this season Graceland used that homecourt advantage to edge Park, 62-57.

Today was a different story though, as Lupe began her senior day off with a three-point make to Park a 3-2 lead. She was Three-of-nine from beyond the arc and finished with 9 points, one point shy of her career-high last season.

After additional scores from both sides, the Pirates turned their 6-4 lead into 14-6 first quarter lead with an 8-2 run to close the quarter. Harris began the scoring run with a layup off the dish from Makayla Artis. For the game, Harris finished with three points and hauled in six rebounds.

Speaking on the rebounding effort, Park had 58 rebounds as a team, the most this season. Artis led the effort with 18 boards, which included 12 off the offensive glass. The advantage was apparent as 21 more rebounds came in for Park, translating to 13 second chance points compared to eight for Graceland.

Artis nearly had a double-double in the second quarter alone with 10 rebounds and eight points. She closed the game with an outstanding 15 points and 18 rebounds for her eight double-double of the season.

Donetria McGee led Park in steals and she had three in the closing three minutes of the first half to keep the Pirates in control. She had seven points in the quarter and closed her day out in double-figures with 10 points. She was close to a double-double, but still had an impressive eight rebounds for the game.

Park added six more points to their lead at halftime, 34-20.

Taylor Shelby was in a shooting contest with the Yellowjackets to start the third quarter, as Graceland hit three consecutive three-pointers and Shelby made one of her own in the first two minutes. Shelby was Park's leading scorer with 16 points and had three makes from three-point range.

The Yellowjackets were threatening within eight points, 37-29, which led to a full timeout from Park. After this point, a dry spell hit and the only bucket scored by either side was from McGee during a three minute period.

Picking back up offensively was Artis and Lupe, who boosted the Pirates to a 14-point lead off of a made free throw and three-point shot, 43-29. The advantage stayed with Park the remaining time in the third and Park led by 15 going into the fourth quarter, 51-36.

The Pirates led by double-digits for the entire fourth quarter and held their largest lead of 16 points at 1:45 remaining in the game.

Shooting percentages were not particularly high for either side, but Park had the slight advantage from the field and from deep at 28.3-percent and 31.8-percent compared to 26.9-percent and 29.4-percent by the Yellowjackets.

The difference in free-throw opportunities was staggering, 21-of-32 for Park, while Graceland was only four-of-six on the day.

Park got away with three more turnovers than the Yellowjackets, but remained even with Graceland in points off of turnovers with 10 points for both teams.

Park is back on Claude English Court on Wednesday, February 8 at 5:30pm, as Park hosts Missouri Valley College.  Watch the live-action here.
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