Park University's women's basketball program commenced with Heart of America Athletic Conference play on Wednesday night in a early test with No. 23 Grand View University. The Pirates played with the Vikings throughout the game but fell 83-74.

The Pirates are now 2-2 on the year with an 0-1 start in conference play, while the Vikings are 3-2 and 1-0 of the same.

Makayla Artis set the tone early with back-to-back scores to put Park up 8-5. Jordan Bianco extended the lead with an and-one to put Park up by six points with 4:09 to go in the first quarter, 11-5. Bianco would immediately answer a three-point shot from the Vikings with a three of her own at the 2:50 mark to preserve the six-point difference. This would be important to maintain the first quarter lead as a 5-2 run for Grand View ended the quarter, 16-13 Park.

The Vikings would tie the game at 18-18 at the 7:20 mark in the second quarter, but Nadiyah Cooper put up a quick five points on a three-pointer and two-point jumper to preserve a 23-20 lead with 6:09 in the half. Grand View took it's first lead of the second quarter with a three-pointer with 5:05 to play, 25-23. The Pirates responded well when their opponent hit big shots though, as Kate Sokolova got in the mix with a three-ball of her own to take back a lead, 26-25. The Pirates would fall behind down the stretch, but thanks to the hot shooting of Sokolova with three three-pointers and a pair of free-throws for 11 points kept the game within reach with a halftime score of 40-38, Vikings.

The deep ball for Park continued to fall as Paige Scott started off the third quarter with a three-pointer to reclaim a 41-40 lead. The Pirates were four-of-seven from three in the second quarter and three-of-seven from beyond the arc in the third quarter, finishing with nine made three-point baskets. Nine three-pointers as a team is not only the team-high for the season, but it's been since Jan. 5, 2022 that Park made that many three-pointers in a game. It goes back to the 2019-20 season when Park last was in double-digit made three-pointers as a team, which the Pirates did twice that season.

The next points in the third quarter wasn't until the 6:58 mark when Cooper hit two free-throws to extend the lead to 43-40. Grand View hit a three-pointer from their forward to tie it at 45-45, but then Marina Perdiguero landed a corner three to reassert Park 48-45 with 5:22 left in the third quarter. Two made three-point shots in a row by the Vikings gave them a three-point lead 51-48, but after an Artis free-throw, a new addition to this Park squad got her first points in her Park career with a three-pointer, and Ramyiah Logan put Park back on top 53-52. Under two minutes though, the Vikings went on a 9-2 run to finish the quarter out 61-55.

Both teams were 6-of-12 from the field in the fourth quarter and three-point baskets went dry with only one apiece for either squad. A big difference maker was the nine-of-11 made free-throws for the Vikings in the fourth quarter to only six-of-13 by Park. The Vikings would not give up the lead the rest of the fourth quarter and led by as much as 13 with 5:34 remaining in the game, as the Vikings would go on to the 83-74 win.

Park and Grand View tracked well together offensively, 47.4-percent from Grand View and 48.1-percent for the Pirates from the field.

Park was nine-of-21 from three, while Grand View was 13-of-25.

Free throws sided with the Vikings making 16-of-19 compared to Park's 13-of-20.   

Park outrebounded the NAIA Top 25 team by 10 boards, 36 to 26, which included four more offensive rebounds.

Park had seven more turnovers in the game, but points off turnovers were only separated by three points, 24 for the Vikings and 21 for Park.

Park and the Mustangs of Mount Mercy will continue with Heart play on Saturday, November 16 at 12pm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. WATCH
Box Score