Park University's women's basketball program missed out on a win over Missouri Valley College by one-point on Wednesday evening, 67-66.

Park and Missouri Valley had a winding road to get to their final destination of 67-66 tonight. The Pirates showed excellent bursts in this contest and now settle for the 5-19 season and 3-16 conference records. The Vikings are now 14-11 and 10-9 of the same.

The Pirates got tagged back by Missouri Valley, as the last time these two programs met on December 7, Park pulled off the one-point victory over the Vikings on their homecourt, 49-48. In that game, Park also managed their largest comeback of 11 points since 2019-20.

Park came to play with an 8-0 run to start the game. Four points landed for both Taylor Shelby and Donetria McGee.

The Vikings got back in the game with two three-point makes to cut the deficit to just 10-8 at 4:03 remaining on the first quarter clock.

A made three-pointer at 1:15 tied the game up for the first time, but Park reclaimed a four-point lead with buckets from Dar'Juanah Harris and Iva Drobnjak to end the quarter, 18-14.

Both sides were back and forth in the second quarter, but an 8-2 run from 6:40 to 1:31 gave Park its largest lead of the game of 10 points.

Missouri Valley was able to capitalize in their last two possessions and scored five points in the remaining 15 seconds to salvage the half 32-27, Park.

The next two quarters were unlike the rest, as both teams went for monstrous third and fourth quarters in their own right. Missouri Valley put up 27 points in the third quarter and held the Pirates to eight points.

The Vikings were 10-of-16 for 62.5% from the field in the third quarter, while the Pirates were four-of-13 for 30.8-percent. The quarter ended with a 14-point lead over Park, 54-40.

Park already pulled off an 11-point comeback this season against Missouri Valley and the Pirates were poised to do it again with a 26-point fourth quarter. Park was led by Taylor Shelby and Angel Wiggins in the fourth quarter, scoring nine and seven points in the rally.

For the night, three Pirates ventured over the 10-point mark, including Shelby, McGee, and Makayla Artis. McGee led all scorers with 18 points on eight-of-13 and finished with a double-double on 11 rebounds.

Artis was just shy of a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. Meanwhile, Shelby had herself a night with 17 points and led Park with 2 three-point makes.

The comeback all began with another 8-0 run like the start of the game for Park to bring the game to 54-48 with 7:02 remaining.

Park kicked it in gear in crunch time and under 2:25, the Pirates scored six unanswered points to make it 63-60. Wiggins had a massive three-pointer to get Park one step closer in their comeback.
The Pirate elected to foul in the remaining defensive series and on the offensive side they were able to piece together some quick offensive strikes by Drobnjak and Wiggins, which made it 67-64 with 11 seconds left.

Artis made one more basket down low as time was expiring, but the Vikings were content sacrificing the two-pointer in that situation. In the end, Park fell to the Vikings, 67-66.

Park had the better shooting performance from the field at 45.3-percent to Missouri Valley's 32.9-percent, while the Vikings' six-for-20 in three-pointers outmatched Park's three-of-17 from deep.

Missouri Valley also held the advantage in free-throws, as 15-of-18 were made by the Vikings, while Park was under 50-percent at 5-of-11.

The Pirates will be on the road in their next Heart appearance with Culver-Stockton College at 2pm on Saturday, February 11 in Canton, Mo. Watch the live-action here.
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