Park University's women's basketball program was on the road against (RV) MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan. on Tuesday evening, falling to the Pioneers 79-48.

The Pirates are back to .500 on the year at 4-4 with a 2-3 Heart of America Athletic Conference record. The Pioneers are off to a hot start with a perfect 5-0 Heart record and are 7-2 on the season, including a win against the preseason No. 11 Georgetown College Tigers at the Remy Williams Invitational.

The Pirates had their second highest number of steals last night with 12, but also had their second highest number of turnovers in 2024 with 27. MidAmerica Nazarene as a result held Park to its second lowest points on the year. This was a different result from Park's upset of the NAIA Top 25 Pioneers last year in Olathe.

MidAmerica Nazarene started off with a 6-0 lead to begin the game. Two steals in a row by Nadiyah Cooper and Emma Perry led to Park's first points, also by Cooper and Perry. Park's defense again came up big, as Paige Scott's steal led to her draining a three-point field goal on the other end to overtake the Pioneers 7-6 on a 7-0 run with four minutes remaining in the first quarter. An 11-0 run would end the quarter for Pioneers 17-7.

The scoring drought would continue for Park until 8:21 in the second quarter, as Perry made a two-pointer, but at this point it was already 23-9 for the Pioneers. It was back-and-forth by both teams, but down 16 points, Jordan Bianco hit a three-pointer to get within 13, 27-14 with 6:17 to go. In the last four minutes of the half, the Pirates would finish strong with a 9-4 run, starting with a Marina Perdiguero two-pointer and ending with a Perdiguero trey. The half would end, 35-23 for the Pioneers.

The largest scoring quarter for the Pioneers was the third as 26 points came in, starting with a 5-0 run to begin the second half. A 9-0 run for the Pioneers put things out of reach as they led by their largest margin thus far by 24 points, 49-25 with 5:56 left in the quarter. The lead would be extended to end the third quarter to 26 points, 61-35.

By the end of the game, the Pioneers secured a 79-48 victory over Park.

MidAmerica Nazarene shot 47-percent from the field compared to Park's 31.5-percent. Both teams shot 23-percent from three-point range.

No major difference came in free-throws, as Park was 10-of-14 and the Pioneers were 12-of-20.

The 27 Pirate turnovers led to 29 MidAmerica Nazarene points, which was a difference maker at the end of the night. Park did good things defensively though with 18 points off MidAmerica Nazarene's 18 turnovers.

Makayla Artis and Ramyiah Logan were the leading scorers for Park with seven points each. Artis was the team's leading rebounder with 11 boards. Allison Swank and Artis led Park with three offensive rebounds each.

It was balanced offensively overall with Perry and Scott recording six-point games, while Perdiguero and Bianco each contributed five points.

Four Pirates had multiple steals in the game, including Perry, Scott, Artis, and Swank.

Park next has an exhibition matchup on Wednesday, November 27 at 5:30pm in Kansas City, Mo. WATCH
Box Score